Ireland's Eye: What's going on in the old sod

Pub closure bargain

The Two Mile Inn Hotel and Thady O'Neill’s bar on the Ennis Road have been put up for sale as a "going concern" by receiver Billy O'Riordan of PriceWaterhouse Coopers, at the far lower than expected price of €1.2 million, a reduction of almost €6 million in just 12 months.

Tom Cross of GVM Auctioneers, local agents for the sale, said it was a "giveaway price" for such a property, which stands on a "high-profile site" and boasts function and meeting rooms, a modern bar and restaurant and extensive car parking facilities.

"The receiver is keen to offload it at this point in time, so that is the state of play," said Cross.

"It was on the market originally for ***7 million, that was about a year ago. It has been reduced substantially now and has potential for a number of uses, possibly as a nursing home," he added.

Cross said that there has been "considerable interest" since the property was re-advertised at the lower price.

Tenders for the 13 acre property must be submitted to GVM by Wednesday, December 15.

The Two Mile Inn closed at the end of September with the loss of around 15 jobs.
-Limerick Leader

Clamor for 20 jobs

Retail giants Argos received a staggering 1,300 applications for just 20 part time posts at its Longford town store over the past number of weeks.

It means that for every one of the 20 jobs filled in the Longford Argos, there were 65 CVs dispatched to the company since the middle of October. The Argos Extra store in Longford is based at the N4 Axis centre store and is one of the busiest Argos stores in the region. As such, the firm sought to hire 20 temporary members of staff to cover the busy Christmas period.

At the time of the job announcements last month, a spokesperson for the retailer said there had been "great interest" in the vacancies, but declined to be drawn on the precise numbers of applications.

Six weeks later, new documentation obtained by the Longford Leader from Argos shows that 14,000 applications were received for 700 positions nationwide.  Of that figure, 1,300 applications were made for the posts in the Longford store.

Seamus Butler, president of Longford Chamber of Commerce, said he was not overly surprised by the huge level of interest shown.

"In one way it is encouraging to see," he said. "It shows that people are very much interested in any work that is going. As well as that, it's good for those 20 individuals who were successful as they now have employment."

Asked why Longford, despite its relatively low population, had accounted for such high numbers of applicants, Butler pointed to the county's high unemployment figures.

"It definitely is a big number," he replied. "We probably have a higher percentage of unemployment in Longford because of the over reliance we had in the construction sector."
- Longford Leader

Hospital needs PJs and towels

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