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A DECISION TO refuse a major whiskey project in the midlands over fears it would ‘scar’ the landscape has been slammed as “unwarranted, unfounded and unsubstantiated”.
As previously reported by Fora, Westmeath County Council denied planning permission for Vault Whiskey Store to build a €138 million whiskey maturation complex in Moyvore.
The company applied to install 12 whiskey warehouses on a 100-acre site located 20 minutes from Mullingar.
The plan was to provide a facility where whiskey producers could store and mature their spirits in casks. The spirit needs to be stored and matured for a minimum of three years to qualify as Irish whiskey.
Each warehouse would have had a capacity of 12,500 casks. The project was slated for completion in early 2020.
However, Westmeath Council denied planning permission on the grounds that the development lacked “architectural merit” and would be at odds with the area’s “sensitive rural setting”.
Westmeath County Council said in its refusal that the site “would result in visual scarring of the rural landscape … and would seriously detract from the scenic amenities and setting of this rural landscape”.
Planners also rejected the project over concerns that its “visual dominance” would have an “overbearing impact” on a nearby house and diminish the property’s value.
The council’s decision has since been appealed to the national planning board.
In a document prepared by Cork-based planning consultant Harry Walsh on behalf of Vault Whiskey Store, the developer insisted that the proposed project “will not result in an excessively prominent feature on the landscape”.
Agricultural sheds
As part of its application, Vault Whiskey Store hired two companies to conduct a landscape and visual impact assessment from multiple viewpoints. The report concluded that the complex was located within a “low-sensitivity landscape”.
The company said the maturation warehouses were designed to be screened from a nearby public road “as the business does not require public profile or visibility”.
It said the large-scale warehouses would differ from many other industrial buildings and would resemble farming sheds “which are prominent throughout the Irish countryside”.
It said the proposed development would feature design elements that would have a “far less significant” visual impact than many other developments of a similar scale.
“High-quality materials are proposed, which include dark green facades with dark grey non-reflective roofing, which resemble the colours used in the agricultural industry,” it said.
Vault Whiskey Store said it believed the local planning authority had “exaggerated” the potential visual impacts of the whiskey maturation complex.
It said criticism of the landscape and visual assessment commissioned by the company was “unwarranted, unfounded and unsubstantiated”.
National importance
Throughout the appeal to An Bord Pleanála, Vault Whiskey Store stressed that the proposed development was of national importance.
As previously explained by Fora, the whiskey industry has said it needs several large centres for maturing whiskey to hit growth targets.
Maturation is a crucial part of whiskey production. Legally, produce from distilleries can’t be branded as Irish whiskey unless it has been matured for a period of at least three years.
However, large maturation warehouses are expensive to build. Developers must also adhere to strict fire safety laws, and insurance and security costs are high because the value of the product increases every year after the initial three-year period.
“The proposed maturation warehouse facility aims to address the primary challenge facing the continued expansion of the Irish whiskey industry: maturation,” Vault Whiskey Store told the planning board.
It said larger, more established distilleries prefer to use their own maturation facilities and small- to medium-sized distilleries would benefit from central maturation complexes because such developments require significant investment.
“We consider that the council’s decision did not have full regard to national policy and that the potential visual impacts of the proposed development were misunderstood and inappropriately assessed.”
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
“The average starting salary expected by an Irish graduate in 2015 is €40,405.”
Speaking from an IT perspective the average graduate will in reality earn closer to €30k (generally less) in my opinion. 40k seems mental as a starting salary.
More like 20K
Are you in IT Ian, if so what do you do and do you like your job? I’m thinking of up-skilling into that sector.
25k when I got a graduate job 2 years ago, 30k now… 40k would be the equivalent of €2,543 a month according to the PWC tax calculator
How does your brain work @Chris? Do you enjoy solving problems, designing things, fixing things?
Their is a very wide spectrum of IT careers.
If you’re into the sciencing, machine learning and data science have a huge future.
Hey Chris, whats your background? If you’re coming in without any background or certs, I’d recommend doing the CompTIA A+, Network+, Storage+ and Security+ as fundamental starting blocks. By then you should have an understanding on where you want to branch into. Give me a shout if you want to talk more.
I’m glad somebody else said this – have no clue where they picked 40K out of.
Expected starting salary €45k?! Did they all miss out on their ‘reality’ classes?!?!
40K???!! I’ve been job hunting with the last 2 months (ended three weeks ago thank Christ) and the best wage I was promised was in the low 30K range. The majority were in the 22,500 – 25,000 range and that’s even with a respectable science degree.
Sounds like a lot of these graduates are going to be disappointed. I started in one of these ‘top 10′ companies in 2010 on a salary of €21,500. Can’t imagine it’s changed much in the mean time. I am of the belief that, if you’re an ambitious graduate, your 20′s should be spent trying to discover what you enjoy as a career, something that’s hard to achieve in a profit hungry multinational. All they care about is squeezing you dry. If any soon to be graduates are reading this article I’d recommend reading this article.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140727232741-15381-don-t-waste-your-20s-at-google-or-mckinsey
Wants 45k ,it’s another thing in getting it…work your socks off then you might have a chance in getting your 45k
45k when I graduate??? Ha I was expecting 188 per week plus a extra 50 euro.
40k? havin’ a giraffe they are. 25k, maybe.
I know people who came out of college fresh from their degree and got into programs with PWC, Ernest & Young etc and they had €40k plus starting off. Its all about being in the top % of your class and leveraging your ability to sell yourself.
They must have been pulling your tail Jack. Myself and a lot of my accounting year went into Big 4 companies and you don’t get anything near that. As I’ve said above I started on €21.5k in 2010. Even when you get your exams, a recently qualified chartered accountant will only earn €40-45k in Dublin.
” fresh from their degree and got into programs with PWC”
I know experienced people who work in PWC and don’t get 40k. They’re one of the worst paying companies in the Irish financial services sector.
I work in Reward / Comp & Ben and have access to large amounts of this type of data….
25k is a good starting salary
The best paying graduate programme is with BOI and it pays about 27 / 28k depending on speciality
these students are mental, plain and simple
Jack my daughter went into Ernst & Young as a graduate three years ago, the salary was nowhere near that, think it was @€25K and 12 hour days were the absolute norm, no overtime paid. I think your friends were taking the mick. My daughter is back in college!
40k are they crazy……
There in for a rude awakening unfortunately.
pffft… work life balance. Lazy feckers.
Would just be nice to get a job at all, about to finish a advertising degree and anything would do.
Get out of advertising, for a start. Its a closed loop, very connection orientated, and thers NOT a lot of opportunity. I’d recommend once you finish to do a masters in a different topic.
I’m graduating this summer and starting salarys in banking and funds are nowhere near that. 22-25k far more realistic
They’re gas at that age!
I realise im reading this about a year later – but this killed me loll
Who are paying those salaries… ?? I’m obviously being way underpaid
No graduate will get that Trisha, they haven’t a clue! TBH most will be lucky to get a job in their chosen field. Your not being underpaid!
I was very lucky to get a job in my sector right as I finished my studies, other students I’m friends with were not so lucky. I had no “expectations” of a starting salary, just to get the foot in the door and make it from there.
Typical students expect big starting salaries like that straight out of collage – I’ve worked in IT for 15 years I can tell u starting salaries for grads is nowhere near that as it right it should be – I don’t thunj they understand the level of training that needs to he done once they start a new job your degree just gets u in the door!
I started in IT almost 6 years ago and that was on 25k. There is no way a grad is starting on 45k. If you’re good then you can definitely be on that within 3/4 years.
Yeah I’d imagine they want to work in Disney with all these fairytales they’re still believing. Was yohr average 2.1 BA in Business or Accounting or the like getting this even during the boom years….
You can see some of the salaries for these companies at glass door.com
That is not a realistic starting salary. Graduate salaries are 24k for sales and marketing roles. They are higher for professional services and engineering/ developer roles. But you would expect to earn 40k after working for 3-4 years.
Silly survey. Good click bait though.
” The average 21-year-old male Irish student expects to make €45,000 as a starting salary,
while female students have slightly more modest expectations of €37,000 when they begin their career. ”
Jesus, I’m in the wrong company.
In United States, CS graduates get above 100K in companies like Microsoft, Google etc. Salary is pretty low in Ireland while the quality of graduates might be similar or may be better for TCD, UCD CS graduates.
I started 4 years ago in IT with no experience or qualification on 18K. Was more than happy with that given my situation at the time – worked my ass off and am now on 35K, looking at 45K with a current job offer I’ve received. I’m 24. No excuse once you’re in the door not to work your ass off and become worth the money and to be vocal about it – but there is no way in hell you can expect to walk out of college to a 40K job lol
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