*Liam Conneally speaking at Monday’s opening of LIT Ennis. 

Ennis’ third level presence is going to become “bigger and greater”, Clare County Council’s Director of Economic Development has outlined.

Speaking at the official opening of LIT’s Ennis campus, Liam Conneally detailed how the Ennis 2040 plan is going to lead to more third level opportunities and research centres making its way to the county town.

“From an Ennis 2040 perspective, it is in gestation a little bit longer than we anticipated, it is going to be our twenty year economic and spatial plan for Ennis, it is going to lead to opportunity sites being developed, a third level presence such as this and this is going to be the first of many, there will be other commercial opportunities that we will bring to the town led by public private partnerships and joint venture partnerships.

“This third level presence is the start of something much bigger and greater. We can only grow from here, 100 will become 200 quickly, it is up to us to find a space and more opportunities for third level education and research. As has been said, the value of education is not just education itself but how it seeps into the business community and the life of the place that it exists”.

He paid tribute to the various parties involved in making the development of a previously vacant building into LIT’s home in Clare. These included his own staff within the Economic Development Directorate, Jada Construction, Clare County Council management, Ennis Chamber of Commerce, elected members of the Council, Pat Breen plus LIT’s own President and Chairman.

“I look around and see a room full of friends. These are people I’ve worked with over the years in many different guises and places, there is a trust built up in delivering projects like this. When the conversation took place for this to happen, there was only a need for one conversation and it was done. This is the product of partnership,” Conneally stated.