Marks and Spencer and Tralee Town Council

[QuietKerryman]

I see that Tralee Town Council have decided not to allow Marks and Spencer open two units in the town.

It appears that nine votes was needed to pass the vote last night, yet the vote was 6-5, with one member absent.

I would love to know who that member was absent and why was he or she absent for such an important issue.

According to a report on Radio Kerry, Kieran Moriarty (FF), Pat Hussey (FG), John Commane (Ind), and the two Sinn Fein councillors Cathal Foley and Maisie Houlihan were the five to vote against the decision.

It is well-known in Tralee that Mr Moriarty is a keen supporter of Tom McEllistrim.

One has to ask where Tom McEllistrim stands on this issue. He stayed silent during the General Election while Norma Foley took the flack.

Surely 100 new jobs in town would be welcome. Mr McEllistrim stated in his election literature that he was in favour of job creation in the town As a Government TD he should be encouraging investment in the town, not hindering it.

It now appears that Marks and Spencers are going to relocate elsewhere to Killarney and Limerick. The five members of Tralee Town Council that voted against this proposal should be ashamed of themselves.

As Padraig Pearse said, The fools, the fools.

[thetruthsback]

Why do you think Padraig Pearse would have been more of Marks and Spencer man? Personally, I would think he'd preferred Dunnes!!!!

[st333ve]

I seen they had jobs advertised on jobs ie last week for marks and sparks, thats a bit cheeky advertising before they even know if theyre opening!

[QuietKerryman]

Bill Kennedy, the Executive Chairman of Lee Strand Creamery, is reportedly the head of this new group of traders concerned about the future of Tralee Town Centre that effectively got the council to block Marks and Spencers coming into town.

He is a hypocrite. For many years, Lee Strand had their headquarters located right in the centre of Tralee, yet under Mr Kennedy's Chairmanship, they were moved to Ballymullen, outside the town.

He didn't show much concern for the future of Tralee Town centre when he moved Lee Strand Creamery's headquarters, so I'm wondering has he had a Road to Damascus style conversion.

[Auditor #9]

Something similar is happening in Killarney I heard. This crap is happening in my town too - the local business people trying to prevent competition and choice - in this case Aldi + Tesco. In these types of cases I think the entire town should vote on this not just the councillors. Petitions are the only tool it seems along with local radio/media - god bless it.

[Sligoboy]

Sligo is notorious for its chamber of commerce having 'undue' influence in both planning matters and anti-competition practices.

Aldi has been refused permission as has Argos. Tesco has been refused permission to open a second store. These refusals are based on draconian limitations as what can be sold in stores 'out of town'. Hundreds pf job opportunities lost.

The By-Pass was routed THROUGH the town which is causing chaos for traffic and has effectively split the town on two. The fear was passing trade would be lost. Local Business pretending this is a city but behaving like it is a little village. It is pathetic.
But even more disturbing is elected representatives allowing this stupidity to pass for good local governance.

Every other town of similar size in Ireland has decent out of town shopping centres. Punters are voting with thier feet, especially around Christmas time when the car parks of shopping centres in both Enniskillen and Carrick-on-Shannon are packed full of Sligo registrations.

[kerrynorth]

Bill Kennedy, the Executive Chairman of Lee Strand Creamery, is reportedly the head of this new group of traders concerned about the future of Tralee Town Centre that effectively got the council to block Marks and Spencers coming into town.

He is a hypocrite. For many years, Lee Strand had their headquarters located right in the centre of Tralee, yet under Mr Kennedy's Chairmanship, they were moved to Ballymullen, outside the town.

He didn't show much concern for the future of Tralee Town centre when he moved Lee Strand Creamery's headquarters, so I'm wondering has he had a Road to Damascus style conversion.

What planet are you on? Would you prefer to have the cattle mart located where it was in the Town centre. If the mart had not moved you would have to close down most of the businesses in Town due to the smells from the mart under EU regulations. The centre of the Mall, the commercial heart of the Town, is less then 100m from where the Mart was located, from the front door of the Abbeygate Hotel down to the junction with Rock St.

[paddyempowered]

Jeezuz, I see this typical rant coming from every town in Ireland. Everyone's so bloody scared of leakage to other towns. Sligo to Carrick, Carrick to Sligo. Every town at this stage has some big multinational superstore but people want them all in their town. You're all for competition but what happens when Tesco or Boots drive down prices so much that little shops go out of business and there's no competition left? The superstores can charge whatever the hell they like cos they're the only shop. It's also a myth that the superstores are cheaper than the smaller shops. The superstores will just mark down the common items to get you in, then charge you more for others. Another M&S might generate 100 jobs but what about the jobs lost when smaller businesses go under? Competition me arse. It's just a gradual take-over of every town by around 10 big superstores... Well done to the councilors who voted against. They might as well take a stand against multinational corporations squeezing out local business and say that not all "progress" is good, or "development" for the best..