Offaly Person of the Year is a successful business man and entrepreneur

The citation in hour of the 2022 Offaly Person of the Year, Noel Tynan charts his success in the hospitality sector and his background in Coolderry and Offaly.

It was read by Pat Teehan, a member of the award's organising committee, at the awards ceremony in Tullamore on Saturday night last.

It reads: "It gives me great pleasure to present to you this evening the 2022 Offaly Person of the Year Award recipient.

The award goes to a successful and hard-working business man and entrepreneur who employs over 170 people in various hospitality ventures in both Dublin and New York.

A native of Coolderry in south Offaly, the 34th Offaly Person of the Year award comes from a farming background.

His 93-year-old mother Teresa, still hail and hearty, continues to reside in his home place at Boveen, Sharavogue.

He was educated local at Coolderry National School and the Presentation College in Birr.

A life-long gaelic games enthusiast, he hurled with both those schools and with his own club Coolderry.

A former recipient of the Offaly Person of the Year award, Bro Denis was his mentor during his years at the Presentation College.

He remembers playing against St Kieran's of Kilkenny in a colleges final in 1977 and missing a goal in the dying seconds of the game resulting in Birr losing by two points.

“That missed goal haunted me for over 20 years,” he now recalls.

After his secondary education he attended Multyfarnham Agricultural College but decided that farming or any of its related industries were not for him.

After studying industrial engineering at the Regional Technical College in Limerick he joined the Midland Tribune as a cub reporter where he covered courts and council meetings as well as news and sports markings in Offaly and north Tipperary.

He had been encouraged to enter journalism by his former national school teacher, the renowned Roscrea historian George Cunningham who recognised his writing talents.

However after a period with the Tribune the Offaly Person of the Year decided that journalism was not a suitable career for him and he moved to Dublin in the early 1980s to make his fortune in the field of property and auctioneering.

He approached four different firms offering to work for his first six months for free and eventually secured a position with the firm of Healy Stewart.

Being blessed with the gift of the gab he soon discovered he had a natural talent and worked in the property sector until he emigrated to New York in 1985.

He was an illegal emigrant during his ten years in the Big Apple which meant he could not get a proper job and worked in the construction sector before returning to Ireland and Dublin in 1995.

He and his wife Clare, who have three children Aaron, Donnacha and Roisha, bought a house in Drumcondra which they converted into a 12-bedroom guest house, his first foray into the world of hospitality.

In 1997 he was on his way to Lansdowne Road for an Ireland Scotland international rugby game when he stopped off for a drink at the Celt Bar. He was the only customer there when three Scotsman came in in kilts and the bar owner refused to serve them. The 2022 Offaly Person of the Year got into conversation with the owner and before leaving agreed to buy the premises off him.

The 34th recipient of the award admits that at the time he couldn't even pull a pint but soon he had learned the necessary skills of the trade and never looked back.

He bought the building next to the Celt the following year and developed a restaurant, Le Bon Crubeen, and 30 bedrooms. The restaurant proved a great success gaining a high reputation and won the prestigious national Restaurant of the Year award in 2012.

Since then his interests in the hospitality sector have expanded and he acquired the Cock Tavern in Swords in 2016 and opened a cocktail bar at Meto on Parnell St in Dublin two years later.

He also developed another cocktail bar, “Electric Circus” in Dublin city centre and owns a bar in partnership with another business man, “Bills” in Manhattan in New York.

This year's award recipient also has plans to develop a country and western themed bar in Dublin city centre.

He also recently purchased one of the most iconic buildings in Dublin, the old Guiney's store and he plans to develop a 46-bedroom hotel there.

He takes a hands on approach to his businesses and has designed the interiors of all his pubs.

As well as his businesses in Ireland and the U.S., he also has extensive interests in eastern Europe.

Business is booming at his pubs and the volume of trade has increased by a whopping 60 per cent this year. He stresses that customers are looking for an authentic experience and he is dedicated to providing that.

In total over 170 people are employed in his pubs which are the most successful in Dublin outside of Temple Bar.

While not working, the 2022 Offaly Person of the Year is an avid gaelic games fan and is a major sponsor of Offaly GAA.

He has been involved with the Offaly Association Dublin for over three decades and continues to be a staunch supporter of the body and all things Offaly in his adopted Dublin home.

Tonight we salute the 34th recipient of the Offaly Person of the Year award.

Ladies and gentlemen please be upstanding for the 2022 Offaly Person of the Year, Noel Tynan."