Green energy will be big focus for Birr 20:20
Prior to the payment of heartfelt tributes by the members of Birr 20:20 to him, outgoing Chairman Salters Sterling gave an extensive Chairman's report during Birr 20:20's AGM on April 13 last during which he outlined the highlights of the last seven years and the challenges ahead.
He pointed out that pre-Covid the group held its meetings in-person, in the Council chamber in the Birr Library buildings. The meetings were open to the public. He said that for the foreseeable future the group won't be returning to the Council chamber but will continue solely with zoom.
He said zoom was a positive thing during Covid “because we held zoom meetings and the technology enabled us to continue working hard as an organisation.
“We had a number of important meetings during 2021. One of them was the publication of the extensive Camcor River report. A second meeting focussed on the environment in Birr, especially the built environment.”
He reminded everyone that the full title of the group is “Birr 20:20 Vision CLG” and that Sinead Ryan will be presenting the financial statements to the Directors of the Board during the AGM.
He said that during the last few months the Board has had a number of meetings “which recommended that we should review the constitution of Birr 20:20 with the aim of increasing public participation.”
Cllr John Carroll, in his capacity as company secretary, read out the minutes of the two Board AGMs of 2020 and 2021.
The minutes reminded everyone that in September 2020 the transfer of ownership of the courthouse from the County Council to Birr 20:20 took place. The 2020 minutes also spoke about the worrying deterioration of the courthouse during the previous six years.
The 2020 minutes pointed out that Birr 20:20 had been in discussions with Gurteen Agricultural College about starting a green-focussed training course. The group was also looking at the construction of a Green Energy project, in the form of an anaerobic digester, in the Birr area. Funding for the Gurteen course and the Digester would be sourced from the Just Transition programme.
The minutes also discussed the good work ongoing in the Growery and pointed out the mental benefits from gardening and growing your own vegetables.
The 2020 minutes also pointed out that there had been concerns regarding The Midland Tribune's future in the town, but thankfully everyone had been assured that the paper's office would remain open and that staff members had been re-employed after being temporarily laid off during the Lockdowns.
Salters thanked Cllr Carroll for reading out the minutes.
“This will be the last report I will give as Chairman of Birr 20:20. Since 2015 and the two Marian Hall meetings that year that got our group going, a lot has happened. During the Marian Hall meetings the group was asked to promote, sustain and increase whatever was happening in Birr.
“From the outset the group's goal was to cooperate; to collaborate; to inaugurate and to facilitate.
“The Marian Hall meetings identified tourism as being a very important part of Birr's income.
“The Marian Hall meetings also talked a lot about the natural and built environment of the town. We made a record of the buildings of sustained public interest which were empty and we were worried would become derelict. One of these buildings was the former Birr Town Council offices behind John's Hall. Since then these offices found a great tenant – Denis Shine and his very valuable heritage education programme. We are delighted that the offices are in such careful and appropriate hands. A second building of concern was the Workhouse. This is now in private ownership and the owners recently said they remain committed to turning it into a care home for dementia sufferers. A third building of concern was the Courthouse. It's now planned to turn this into an artistic hub. Thankfully the Courthouse roof was repaired last year.
“The five festivals in the town from May to October are hugely important for the town and environs, during which the public can enjoy film, music, plays, entertainment of all kinds. A lot of energy was devoted by us in Birr 20:20 to sitting down with the festival committee and discussing ideas which were focussed on enhancing things. Birr Festivals Collective was established.
“Birr Festivals Collective will be meeting at 9pm in Dooly's Hotel, this Wednesday April 27. During the meeting the Collective will launch its plans for the 2022 festival season and will introduce the Birr Festivals Collective project and Colm Croffy, the Festivals Project Coordinator.”
Birr's five festivals are Birr Festival of Music, Scripts Ireland's Playwriting Festival, Birr Vintage Week and Arts Festival, OFFline Film Festival and Hullabaloo! Offaly's Children's Arts Festival. The five festivals came together under the umbrella of Birr 20:20 prior to Covid-19 and commissioned the report, “Seeing the Beyond – Birr Festivals Planning For A Shared Future.” The report was launched in October 2020 and proposed the establishment of Birr Festivals Collective. In the summer of 2021 resources were provided by the Arts Council of Ireland to fund a Project Coordinator to drive the project forward.
Salters also spoke about the positive, ongoing work on Green Street, which will eventually create a new entranceway to the Castle Demesne and will create a greater symbiosis between the Castle and the town centre.
He spoke about package holidays based on the town's two hotels and places of natural beauty such as Lough Boora, the Shannon, and the Slieve Blooms. “The feedback from the tourists who took part in those package holidays was very positive, and they said they had enjoyed as good a time as anywhere in Ireland.”
He said Birr is now in Ireland's Hidden Heartlands, having previously been in Ireland's Ancient East, and the first workshop under the new umbrella of Ireland's Hidden Heartlands was held a couple of weeks ago in the County Arms Hotel.
He spoke about the major study of the Camcor River that was undertaken by JBA consulting and launched last year. “A working party has been meeting once every six weeks trying to implement the JBA report; and it's hoped that funding will be forthcoming. The working group includes John Feehan, Basil Mannion, Amanda Pedlow, Salters Sterling, Bernie Fanneran, and Daithi de Forge. Developing the existing walkways alongside the Camcor is very much on the agenda.”
He added that the Council spent €350,000 on roof and facade repairs to the courthouse; and a new application for sizeable funding for the creation of the artistic hub in the Courthouse will be made in the next couple of weeks.
Overall, he said, Birr 20:20 had an extensive record of “continuing, positive activity.”
He also spoke about a couple of things which are of concern to the Board of Directors: “Firstly, when Birr 20:20 was established in 2015, a successful business forum had been existing in Birr for many years but for reasons to do with Emmet Square and its redesign the energy had gone out of that initiative. Birr 20:20 decided not to interfere because we wanted to support what was already there. In the seven years since it has not been possible to restart that business forum, although there have been those who have tried. The Board believes that it is essential that a new form of business initiative emerges very quickly, namely a specific forum for those focussed on hospitality and for those connected with all activities connected with Birr's tourism offering. All will benefit if we achieve what is possible and greater numbers of tourists visit the town. The aim is to have a vibrant tourism offering throughout most of the year, with only January and February being the dead or shoulder months.
He reminded everyone that 650,000 Euros was allocated in March 2020 as part of Failte Ireland's Destination Town programme and this money went towards the ongoing enhancement of Green Street. He said it's hoped to secure more Destination Town funding. “Cllr John Clendennen and Janine Wilson are acting on that on behalf of Birr 20:20. With enough funding Birr could eventually have the same reputation as Kinsale, Westport, Kilkenny.
He said the Board had engaged in a very extensive consultation with the local farmers, Grant Engineering, insulation workers, and education workers, about the group's green energy aspirations. OLDC played a huge part in those discussions.
He said Gurteen Agricultural College plans to run a course which will assist farmers transitioning from carbon based energy to clean based energy. It is hoped the first session of this course will take place in the near future.
He said the Anaerobic Digester would be an excellent thing. “Anaerobic Digestion creates clean energy out of existing pollutants. A company called SLR did a major study for us and published it late 2021. This was followed by a number of private conversations in order to establish the digester's feasibility. The big task facing us right now is finding a suitable location for the digester. It will transform the community from pollutant activity to clean energy activity, as can be seen by many communities in Denmark, Germany or the US.
“I watched Country File on a Sunday evening recently and it was evident that farming's link to clean energy is getting stronger and stronger.”
Salters said it had been an “enormous privilege” to serve as Chairman. “When we met in the Blazers room in Dooly's in 2014 I didn't envisage this role, I didn't want this role. Throughout my time in the Chair I have been hugely supported by the Board of Directors, which included Emma Nee Haslam and Adrian Haines but they moved to other pastures. There has been enormous focus and work by the Board. I am very grateful to everyone. The Board has been enhanced by Cllrs Peter Ormond and John Clendennen joining last year, having been nominated by Birr Municipal District.”
He said he was also very grateful to Michael Hanna who led the Pillar group which tackled the Courthouse project.
He added that the lease for the Growery has been renewed, so it will be able to continue in its current location for the short term at least. “Hopefully the lease will be further renewed.” He praised Eimhin Shortt for his excellent work in setting up and running the Growery.
He also paid tribute to Bernie Fanneran and Greg Smith for their excellent work in Birr Tidy Towns. Birr's marks in the national Tidy Towns competition have been steadily increasing during the last few years.
Sinead Ryan also spoke about the group's accounts. “All the accounts were presented to us in order and show a true and fair picture of the group's activities,” she commented.
The following members retired from the Board during the AGM: Brendan Hutchinson (who had been representing the travelling community), Salters Sterling, Breda Ryan Purcell and Hannah Ward.
The following new Directors were elected to the Board: John McFadden, who is a member of staff of LOETB on Townsend Street, who will be looking after PR. Gary Hoctor, who will be liaising with the five festivals. Mary Hutchinson, who will be representing the travelling community. Marie Darcy, who will be treasurer.
The Board will be 11 members: John Carroll, John Clendennen, Bernie Fanneran, Sean Loughnane, Gary Hoctor, Mary Hutchinson, John McFadden, Marie Darcy, Peter Ormond, Fiona Breen. One further person will be appointed and will be focussing on a forum representing the interests of retailers in the town. The new Chair of Birr 20:20 will be appointed at the first Board Meeting.
Frances Kawala told the meeting that she really enjoys working in Birr 20:20. She said one of it's benefits is that “it's great to know what's going on around Birr.”
One attendee at the AGM pointed out that Ireland is the only English speaking country in the EU, and there's a huge demand in Ireland for the provision of English classes. John Clendennen said providing English classes could be a way of attracting visitors from abroad to the area.