New life to iconic building in Tipperary town centre
Arachas Insures Ireland officially opened their new offices at the Irish House, 62-63 Main Street, Tipperary town on Thursday March 13th.
There are 25 staff employed at the Irish House, with plans to increase staffing to 30 in the next year. The company also employs 20 staff in Limerick and has expanded it’s Mid West Region with 6 staff employed in Offaly.
The business is leasing the entire ground floor of the Irish House covering 2500 sq. feet which is supplemented by a private meeting rooms and two board room. In its previous life the building was a Vocational School from 1935 – 1978, and subsequently became a Coffee Shop and tourist destination under the care of Noel and Alice McInerney.
The floors overhead have been leased by Focus Ireland and provide 6 apartments for social housing.
The entire building is owned by Abercorn Developments led by Donnacha Cleary, who also redeveloped the former Glove Factory Building on James Street, which again provides apartments for social housing.
Jonathan Brown, Chief Commercial Officer with Arachas performed the official opening of the building on Thursday. Speaking at the opening Jonathan began by saying how great a pleasure it was for him to be present on the day.
“I have heard a lot about the positivity that the opening of this office has brought to the community. It is wonderful to see Arachas in Tipperary Town and to know that Arachas is committed to Tipperary Town and to our local communities. That is a huge part of what Arachas is and stands for. I have heard a little about this building and that it has been here for a number of years underutilised. It is great to see the way it is kitted out in a modern working environment and we are very proud of that fact. Arachas is Ireland’s largest fastest growing nationwide insurance broker, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t committed locally.
“We are delighted to be here to support Dan (Hennessy) as a Regional Director for the Mid-West and in terms of growing out our footprint in the Mid-West. Our ability to serve customers; personal, car, home, business, farm, whatever it might be, that is key to us and key to the success of us. Probably what we are most proud of is the people, the people in this office. The people in this office have come from different businesses. Some have come from O’Donoghue Hooper Dolan and some have come from Tom Fogarty Insurance Brokers.
“Both of theses have been acquisitions by Arachas over the last couple of years. Some people have come in more recently and have joined Arachas as it has been. Those people the 20 plus people that are now based here in this office, serving the local community, are the people we are most proud of. Arachas has a commitment to excellence in service. We like to innovate our own products, we want to bring new things and add value to people for it.
“Clients are the lifeblood of our business, without our clients we aren’t anything. For every single one of our customers out there, across the whole market, across the local area and beyond, we are delighted that you continue to trust in Arachas. The promises that are made by the people in this room to you, in terms of service, in terms of commitment, that is what is really key for us all being a success as we go over the next number of years” concluded Mr. Brown.
Daniel Hennessy, Regional Director for the Mid-West Region also spoke at the occasion and began by talking about the insurance history in the town.
Insurance has been sold in Tipperary town since the 1960’s. This just didn’t start in recent days, it is a long standing process over 50 years. Tom Fogarty handed his business over to his son Michael and John and Anne O’Donoghue developed their business through Hooper Dolan, which was managed by John Quirke, and both businesses are now a huge part of what we are doing here at Arachas.
We want to recognise the impact that you both have made to Tipperary town and to thank you for your service over the last 50 years. It is really exciting to be launching Arachas here in The Irish House. When it was first suggested that The Irish House might be available for rent, I did not want to look at any other building. It has worked out far better than I could have imagined and it is a really nice building to work in. Being part of Arachas and part of the Ardonagh Group means that there is a huge suite of products that we can provide to the local area and 25 professional staff that will look after you here.
I want to thank Donncha Cleary from Abercorn Construction and your foreman Kevin for delivering this project to Tipperary town and Albert from Vision who worked on the cosmetic side of the project. You can see the wonderful way that the project has been completed and also the finishings. The Abercorn and Vision staff worked so closely together and that is evident from the finished product. The IT team also deserve special mention as we weren’t out of action for more than 20 minutes the day we were moving, which is a great tribute to how quickly they went about their work. Andrea, our head of Business Support with Arachas, without your input we wouldn’t have been able to deliver the project.
Jonathan and the Executive Management Team gave us the investment and the backing for this great project in Tipperary town, and backed us in Tipperary town from the outset. They believed in us and gave us the investment that we needed so our thanks to them for that support. I also want to mention Gearóid, our Managing Director in the South, Una and Mark in the Marketing Team and our Brand Ambassador Seán Óg Ó hAilpín” concluded Mr. Hennessy.
Congratulations and best wishes to Arachas on the opening of The Irish House and to Abercorn Construction on a wonderfully finished building. A great tribute to the high level of workmanship involved.
Incidentally I was delighted to have the opportunity to have a chat with Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, who was present for the opening.
Our discussion mainly centered around hurling (hardly surprising!), with Seán Óg telling me how impressed he is with the Tipperary SH Team!
Good to see the Cork man expressing confidence in the men from the Premier.