Boyle was crowned the Overall Winner of the Bank of Ireland Enterprising Town Awards Competition at a ceremony in the Abbey Hotel last night.
Picture Credit: Boyletoday.com
The Bank of Ireland Enterprising Town Awards have been organised in collaboration with four County Councils and their economic teams in Roscommon, Mayo, Laois and Kildare. The Awards celebrate enterprise by bringing businesses and community groups together to showcase the spirit of enterprise in their town.
The judging panel met with businesses, community and public sector groups in each of the participating towns in Roscommon to learn more about what was being done to promote enterprise within the towns. Following this engagement, Boyle was last night chosen as the overall County Winner and will receive a prize of €3,000 and a trophy. In addition to being honoured as the Roscommon County Winner, Boyle was also selected as the Overall Bank of Ireland Enterprising Town Winner across the four counties involved. As a result they were awarded a further €10,000 to support enterprise initiatives in the town.
There was additional success for County Roscommon at the Awards with Castlerea being given a Merit Award and funding of €2,000 to support the start-up of a community matching fund initiative. Castlerea was one of six other towns selected from across the four counties for this special Merit Award. The judges found Castlerea to be a great example of businesses, community, county council and other agencies all working together as part of a team focussed on the town.
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten TD, spoke of the importance of local enterprise at the awards ceremony:
“I am delighted to be here to celebrate some of Ireland’s Most Enterprising Towns. The Government is committed to the development of towns and communities across Ireland and this initiative by Bank of Ireland allows a spotlight to shine on the breadth of local enterprise throughout the country. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy – they provide employment, prosperity and vitality to our towns and I am heartened that they can be celebrated here tonight.”
Speaking at the awards ceremony in the Abbey Hotel, Roscommon, Liam McLoughlin, Chief Executive of Retail Bank at Bank of Ireland, said:
“As Ireland’s Enterprise Bank, we are delighted to award Boyle €13,000 to acknowledge their dedication to local enterprise. Bank of Ireland is focused on fostering enterprise development and entrepreneurship across Ireland, and in collaboration with the local authority in Roscommon, we are delighted to recognise and showcase the breadth and diversity of enterprise that exists.”
Liam McLoughlin continued: “As a bank, we know that SMEs, Start-ups and community organisations are a major driver of the success and sustainability of every county. These awards shine a light on this and will profile towns, businesses and community groups who collaborate on driving innovation and partnership.”
Brian Nerney, Chairperson on the Boyle Town Team
paid tribute to the Town Team members, the Chamber of Commerce, the various groups, business people and individuals young and old from Boyle who made the judging day a success, adding “they can feel justly proud that they assisted in winning the awards.”
“Sometimes we can take what we have for granted but I can assure you, if you took the time, like we did, to look at the many facilities, clubs, organisations and businesses we have in Boyle added to by the strong level of volunteerism, you would see out town in a very positive light.
“Being able to now tag Boyle as “Ireland’s Most Enterprising Town” will be a catalyst to now help the the Town Team and Chamber of Commerce to attract business to the town and assist in the exciting future plans and projects that we will announce before Christmas” he concluded.
Senator Maura Hopkins said that “it is a huge achievement for Boyle to win both the Roscommon County Bank of Ireland Enterprising Town Award and the overall 4 County Award.
Adding “It is an achievement the community in Boyle should be immensely proud of.”
“It is very evident from working with many individuals and organisations within Boyle that the people have a huge amount of pride and self-belief in their town. It is clear that community spirit is flourishing and resulting in the development of important community projects. Both the county award and the overall Enterprising Town Award is testament to the hard work of the people of Boyle.”
“From projects such as refurbishment of the Boyle Courthouse in order to showcase the model railway to development of the Lough Key to Boyle town greenway to the Boyle Arts Festival, it is clear the community are working exceptionally hard to further develop the potential of Boyle and its surrounding areas.”
Senator Hopkins also stated “It was also great to see the community of Castlerea being given a merit award on the night along with the significant recent funding secured through Roscommon County Council and REDZ to develop the Food Hub.”
Senator Hopkins congratulated all of the towns who took part namely Ballaghaderreen, Boyle, Castlerea and Strokestown. She stated that she “believes the development of the Town Teams within the county is demonstrating the positive impact of business and the wider community working together with Roscommon County Council, Roscommon LEADER Partnership and other agencies on a number of key projects.” Senator Hopkins also complimented “the Bank of Ireland on being proactive in assisting communities to showcase the strengths and opportunities of our towns”.
Fianna Fáil TD for Roscommon/Galway Eugene Murphy has extended congratulations to all the people of Boyle
“I am absolutely delighted that Boyle can now claim to be Ireland’s Most Enterprising Town. Boyle also scooped the county award on the night, beating off strong competition from Ballaghaderreen, Castlerea and Roscommon. Well done also to Castlerea as they won a Merit award on the night and indeed congratulations to the other County Roscommon towns who made such an effort in taking part in this competition.
Well done to all members of the Boyle Town Team – the lead group in the town’s application- which was represented by Brian Nerney (Chairman), Frank Geelan (Treasurer), Patricia Golden and David Gunning.
To win the county award is a great achievement but for Boyle to win the overall national award is simply terrific and it really puts the town on the map and showcases all that is great about the area. Well done to the Town Team members, the Chamber of Commerce, community groups, business people and individuals who made the judging day a success. Boyle is of course so well known for its high profile tourism products such as Boyle Abbey, King House and Forest Park but there are also great restaurants, shops and industries in the area. Part of the judging process also involved visits to Vention Medical, Trojan IT and Feelystone which really showcased the great sense of entrepreneurship and industry in the town- well done Boyle and continued success for the future!,” said Deputy Murphy.