The members of the Claremorris electoral area committee threw their support behind a motion from Independent Councillor Richard Finn that called on Mayo County Council to offer its full support for the proposed new Bio-spark plant in the town.
“This development is an enormous boost for the town and will see 70 jobs created in the construction phase of the project, with 180 after it opens, which will rise to 380 when it is in full operation,” Cllr Finn told the meeting. “There was a lot of competition for this plant from other counties and we were lucky that they chose to come to Mayo and to come to Claremorris especially. This is a €40 million development and I’m calling on Mayo County Council to do all they can to ensure that they get the plant up and running as smoothly as possible.”
Committee chairman Fine Gael Cllr Tom Connolly seconded the motion, saying: “Something like this is long overdue and will be a major employment boost to the town and surrounding areas.” Fianna Fáil Cllr Damien Ryan also threw his support behind the motion and urged the council to do all it could to see the plant come to fruition. “This facility is nothing but good news for this area, I fully believe the council should support it any way they can. The creation of up to 360 jobs is something that has to be grabbed and it positions Mayo in the right place to become a hub for research and development projects like this in the future.”
Director of services for Mayo County Council, Seamus Granahan, told the meeting: “We will support any proposal that can provide a jobs boost like this for Mayo. I would suggest that the developers of this project come in and talk to us before the planning stage so we can go through all the different stages of planning to ensure that everything is done properly.”
