Drive-thru pharmacy opens on former derelict Tipperary site, creating 22 jobs
There has been a warm welcome for a new pharmacy in Tipperary after it opened, bringing more than 20 jobs to the local area.
Mulligan’s Pharmacy opened recently in Carrick-on-Suir, bringing a modern pharmacy facility, alongside health and beauty products, a new café, as well as offering a drive-thru facility for people to collect medications, creating 22 jobs in the town.
At the December meeting of the Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District, councillors welcomed the new store, which opened on a site on the Pill Road in the town that sat derelict for a number of years.
Cathaoirleach of the district councillor David Dunne said he was impressed by the new store.
“I was mighty impressed by the overall project and the 22 jobs, and they’re all local jobs I was informed, it’s spectacular,” he said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran Bourke said that he was glad to see use made of the vacant site that he had called for action on before.
"Last year, I was very critical of that site, that site was a derelict site and it was rack and ruin, there was net curtains flying out broken windows, there was people squatting in there, there was drug abuse going on in there, and I was critical of it,” he explained.
"I was also critical of the property owner saying that they should be responsible and do something about it. After that being said, I got a call from the property owner, and he assured me that there was going to be work taking place in the new year, and would I give it a bit of space, and I said ‘no, you need to do something about it now’, and we had a to-and-fro,” Cllr Bourke said.
"He said to me at the time, ‘you’ll be the first down when I’m putting 20-plus new jobs into Carrick’, but that’s the reason I didn’t show up to the grand opening,” he added.
Despite the disagreement, Cllr Bourke said, the property owner made good on his word and it was good to see the site brought back into use.
"To his credit, the following day, he had contractors on site, they blocked up the windows, they secured the site and they tidied it all up. And I have to say, Ronan Mulligan [owner of Mulligan’s Pharmacy] has put a huge investment into Carrick-on-Suir, an investment that I welcome, there are 20-plus jobs there, and it’s a fantastic, seven day a week facility,” he said.
"Fair play to him, he did exactly what he said he was going to do,” Cllr Bourke added.
Also welcoming the new pharmacy, Fine Gael councillor Mark Fitzgerald said that any time new jobs are brought to the town, it’s good news.
"Any time you see 20-plus jobs coming into a town like Carrick, it’s great because in small towns like this throughout the country, sometimes it is hard to keep jobs in the town,” Cllr Fitzgerald said.
The new Mulligan’s Pharmacy in Carrick-on-Suir is open seven days a week, with Gigi’s Park Café also open all week.