Huge sadness at death of 2021 Offaly Person of the Year

THE death has occurred of mental health campaigner, successful businessman and 2021 Offaly Person of the Year James O'Connor.

The Tullamore native, who died in his 40s after an illness, was the driving force behind community counselling service Accessible Counselling Tullamore (ACT) and the founder of shop fitting company, Fititout.ie

Remembered as a hardworking and honest man who cared deeply about others, James put his entrepreneurial skills to very good use, building up a big business during the Celtic Tiger era, coming through the subsequent downturn and then returning to help many enterprises as they opened up and revamped in recent years.

All the while, he was dealing with his own demons and made the decision to go public with his personal story, a move which ultimately led to him deciding to establish a counselling service for the wider community.

His story was told very well in a citation read nearly a year ago when he received the Offaly Person of the Year award.

The citation said: “The award goes to a successful and hard-working business man who is a leading mental health campaigner in Offaly and the surrounding counties.

“Born in Tullamore 42 years ago he was educated locally in St Joseph's NS and Tullamore Vocational School.

“But as he confesses himself he didn’t like school and spent most of the time having the craic and messing with class mates. It was only in later life that he realised the benefit of a good education.

“He excelled at woodwork and metalwork and his thirst to work with his hands and the opportunity to make money saw him leave school after his Junior Cert.

“The 2021 Offaly Person of the Year first went to work in Harpscreen where he earned what he thought was a fortune.

“After that he went on to work with Joe Keyes and Sons and it was here he gained valuable knowledge and skills in the building and carpentry industry and this was where his real love of the job began. With Joe he worked on some great projects including Texas department store, Pat’s Bar and Capital Cars and he loved to see these old buildings changed and brought back to life. He left Joe to go and work in Texas for a time. The shop was constantly changing and the owner travelled the world coming back with new ideas for displays etc.

“The 2021 Offaly Person of the Year was carrying out the general construction work but he noticed that all the shop fitters were coming down from Dublin or the North and were charging a fortune. It was here he saw an opportunity to step in and offer value to the owner of Texas while making a few pounds himself.

“He set up his own business at the tender age of 17 and by the age of 19 the business was on the up and he and a team of five were working on projects around the Midlands.

“It was then that tragedy struck and in February 1999 his baby daughter Leah Victoria died. This turned his world upside down. He threw himself into his work as a way of coping and subsequently his relationship with Leah’s mother broke down.

“In June of the same year he attempted to take his own life and ended up on life support and then in psychiatric care. But as soon as he was able, he characteristically went straight back to work.

“Not long after this he met Lisa and he got stronger and his business grew from strength to strength. At the age of 24 he carried out the fit-out of the then Days Hotel – now Central Hotel in Main Street - it was a huge undertaking with the entire project completed in 12 weeks at a cost of €1.5 million.

“This was a turning point and he began to take on larger projects. He had five crews on the road working all over the country for Government bodies, multi-national companies, department stores, office blocks and shopping centres. When the crash came he made the tough decision to let everyone go – this included some of his best friends. Then followed a tough few years – dealing with banks on various properties he had bought and making sacrifices and tough decisions. He took this time to work on the business and rebranded to fititout. He went to college part time and completed a degree in construction management.

“The Offaly 2021 Person of the Year and his team are now working almost exclusively in the Midlands where their work is instantly recognised for the thoughtful design and meticulous attention to detail.

“In 2015 after two young men he was close to took their own lives in quick succession he made the decision to share his own story – he posted it to Facebook with the hope of helping just one person. The response was huge with hundreds of people messaging him to say that they were struggling and were ashamed or embarrassed to tell anyone.

“It was this that prompted him to become an Ambassador for See Change – the national stigma reduction programme.

“In 2018 he and Lisa started the Tullamore Goes Green Initiative as part of the national Green Ribbon campaign in the hopes of encouraging people to talk about mental health.

“To date they have given out over 40,000 green ribbons and over 280 local businesses and community and sports groups have become involved – posting pictures on social media and holding events.

“It was through this that he was approached about getting involved in a local counselling centre with the view of helping to turn it around. His view was a new broom sweeps cleans and he thought he could draw on his own experience and provide the community with a purpose-built counselling centre that would be accessible to everyone – regardless of their means.

“It took over 18 months of planning and getting governance and policies and procedures in place as well as recruiting a board, a manager and counsellors to get Accessible Counselling Tullamore established.

“The centre is managed by Dympna Summerville who is assisted by Lisa, who does all the reception and administration work, and it is down to these two ladies, as well as the 10 volunteer counsellors, that he credits the success of the centre.

“This week saw the centre pass 1,000 clients who have come from all over the Midlands. They come from all walks of life and range in age from 16 to 88 and get help for issues ranging from anxiety, grief, stress, addiction, anger and relationship issues to name but a few.

“ACT provides a place for people who may not know how to access counselling or be in a position to afford private counselling to avail of a professional and confidential service that is literally saving peoples lives.

“Offaly is very proud of his achievements in business and as a mental health advocate.”