An anticipated €5 million grant from the government’s Just Transition Fund will open the huge potential of the Lisheen mine site in Mid-Tipp.
That’s the view of local Councillor Micheál Lowry who says it could attract national and international companies to the area.
At yesterday’s meeting of the Thurles Municipal District officials revealed that the local authority recently purchased the old engineering building and ten acres of land to create a new bio-economy centre.
Councillor Lowry says while Ireland is a little behind the rest of the world in terms of the bio-economy but this move by Tipperary County Council can change this.
“I think this investment into Lisheen will prove hugely beneficial not just for Mid-Tipperary and Tipperary but even nationally – it will be huge for the country because it gives a base for a lot of our own indigenous companies that are operating in the space but also there’s international companies looking to anchor. I think if we can get the first of the projects across the line I think that Lisheen then becomes that focal point and we can start attracting them in.”
Councillor Lowry says tapping into the whole bio-economy and that an expected €5 million Just Transition Fund grant will be a game changer.
“The time is now right and hopefully in tandem with the funding that comes we’re in the best possible position to take full advantage of it and hopefully turn that site into something that we can be proud of as a county. But in the medium term the country can be proud of it because we have the potential to attract serious industry into that area.”
