Mullingar - Economy

Economy

Mullingar's commercial sector has expanded in recent years from just a few shops on the town's main thoroughfares – Oliver Plunkett Street, Austin Friars Street, and Mount Street – to several major shopping areas. There is an out-of-town retail park at Lakepoint (about 1.6 km from the town centre), the Harbour Place shopping centre near the town centre and a new development at the Green - on the site of the former Avonmore and Pennys units.

The town has a mix of local retailers and chain stores (Tesco, Dunnes Stores, O2, Penneys, Lidl, SuperValu, Boots, Specsavers, Lifestyle Sports, Butterfly Kisses, Atlantic Homecare, Marks and Spencer and others). The town also has branches of all the major banks - AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, National Irish Bank, Permanent TSB - and branches of First Active and EBS building societies. The town also has one of the country's largest Credit Unions (St Colemans Credit Union).

Arguably the largest development in Mullingar, the proposed "Mullingar Central" development is located between Mount Street, the Railway station and Blackhall Street. Planning permission has been granted for retail, commercial and residential units. Phase 1 which includes tax offices, library, civic offices and County Council buildings was officially opened on the 11th June 2009. Phase 2 of the project will be the largest retail centre in the midlands and will incorporate offices, residential units a cultural building and leisure facilities. This has been shelved due to the economic situation however.

A Farmers' Market is held in Mullingar every Sunday and a further small market is run near Penneys/Marks and Spencer by The Green.

Mullingar contains several industrial estates including Lough Sheever Corporate Park and the Lynn Industrial estate. Two of the towns major manufacturing plants – Penn tennis balls and Tarkett – both closed in the early 2000s causing many job losses. However newer industries have absorbed the job losses – including Capmark, Oakley, P.E.M. Engineering, Trend Technologies, Taconic International, and Mullingar Pewter which are all sizeable operations. The town is also home to a Van Nelle (Ireland) (a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco) factory which has provided employment for many years.

Iralco, an automotive component manufacturer, is located nearby in Collinstown continues to provide employment to a skilled work force. The town recently won a €25m Lidl Warehouse and distribution center which will employ between 100 and 150. A new site for the IDA Business Park has been sited along the new N52 bypass. A major addition to the towns telecommunications infrastructure – a broadband network – was completed in 2004 – this is expected to increase the areas attractiveness to large multinational companies. Tesco Ireland had wanted to build a superstore in Lakepoint Retail addition to its current store but the local council turned this down.

A new shopping centre anchored by Marks and Spencer and Penneys has opened in the town, known as the Fairgreen Shopping centre. Additional tenants at the centre include UK fashion retailer New Look, Dorothy Perkins and Lifestyle Sports. Some feel a need for more retailers in Mullingar which has leaked millions of Euro of spending power from the area to surrounding retail centres such as Liffey Valley and Blanchardstown. The town's Council has great plans for the town centre with the predominantly retail led 'Central' scheme. It is expected to attract many national and international retailers into the area to capitalize on the town's growing population and its increasing popularity as a location with a high quality of life compared to many busy areas of Dublin.

Mullingar has a Chamber of Commerce which represents almost 200 businesses from many commercial sectors.