An application for grant aid was made to Enterprise Ireland under their new programme "Community Enterprise Centre Programme 2002", and the Committee have just been granted €120,000.00 under this scheme (2nd Aug 2002). This along with €80,000.00 from Respond Housing and some funds in hand, will allow the Committee to start building works when planning is granted.
Building work on the new Enterprise Centre will commence on Thursday 20th February. We are pleased to see that the building contract, which was open to tender, has been awarded to a local company Clonduff Construction. As this is a very important occasion it was celebrated with an official Turning of the Sod Ceremony on Tuesday 18th Feb. The County Mayor Mr. Pat O'Sullivan preformed this ceremony, with various other officials in attendance. Enterprise Ireland, Galway Rural Development, Respond Housing Association, Galway County Development Board, FÁS, and other organisations were represented. The Project is being supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Respond Housing Association. This was a public function and was well attended. The mayor along with other representatives congratulated the community at a reception held afterwards in the Community Centre.
Some of the 9 units are already pre booked. The Credit union is relocating, and the existing Creche is expanding with 3 units required. It is also hoped to establish a Community Resource Office. Two other existing businesses are also considering units.
Click on Sod Turning pictures below to enlarge

Update 18th April 2003
Construction of the Enterprise Centre is now well under way. All site clearance and filling is complete, with the Ground floor blockwork 75% complete. The First floor hollowcore floor is to be in place on 6th May. Two additional businesses have now booked a unit. A local business has requested a Funeral Home, and another local business has requested a Showroom and office space for a new startup Property Development Company which will also be promoting a new range of Timber Windows & Doors.

Update 10th October 2003
The Enterprise Centre is now well on target for completion for mid October 2003. Most of the internal works are now complete, with the new tenants carrying out their own final touches, and the grounds are also nearing completion. The Monster Auction helped with funds, and further fund raising is now being arranged. The Clonberne Creche is having its Open day on 11th October, and will open for business on Monday 13th October 2003. The Development Committee would like to wish them luck in their new premises. The official opening is now being arranged for early November 2003, with details to be announced soon.

Update 30th October 2003
The Enterprise Centre is now within a few days of completion, with only items such as Tarmac and paint touch ups remaining. The new extended Creche is open for business and doing exceptionally well. Two / three other units will be occupied in the next 2 weeks.
The Official Opening has now been arranged. This will take place on 21st November 2003 at 8.00 p.m. by Deputy Mary Harney, Minister for Trade & Enterprise, and will be followed with a blessing ceremony by Archbishop Michael Neary. Various other public and department representatives will also be guests at the event, which will be followed by a dinner dance in the adjoining Community Centre. The Development Committee look forward to meeting the people of Clonberne on this important night, along with our invited guests.

Update 28th November 2003
The newly constructed Community Enterprise Centre in Clonberne was officially opened by An Tánaiste Deputy Mary Harney, minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, on Friday evening 21st November. Archbishop Michael Neary commenced the proceedings with the blessing of the building. An Tánaiste and Archbishop Neary, along with the other invited guests then spent some time viewing the building, which had been open to the public for an hour prior to the proceedings. During this viewing they met with all the new tenants and discussed their plans and aspirations. After a few short private meetings and a photo session the guests proceeded to the adjoining Community Centre for the speeches which were followed by a Dinner and dance, attended by in excess of 250. This was a night to remember. Among those who attended were: Minister Noel Treacy; Senator Michael Kitt; Deputies Paul Connaughton, Noel Grealish and Paddy McHugh; Councillors Michael Connolly, Sinead Connaughton, Kathleen Quinn, Tiernan Walsh and Seamus Quinn; Seamus Bree and Victor Andrews from Enterprise Ireland; Eamon Kiely and Pat Foley from G.R.D.; Charles Lynch from the County Enterprise Board; Frank Dawson from the County Partnership Board; Donal O'Donoghue the County Manager; P.J. Higgins from FÁS; Mary Giblin and Lucy Crawford from Galway City & County Childcare; Morten Birklund from Vrogum Denmark, and Michael McGrath from Action Tuam. Along with these there were also guests from all the local Credit Unions. Canon Sean Blake made a special presentation on behalf of the people of the parish to Fr Sean Higgins, who responded with some moving words. It was Fr Sean Higgins who originally planted the seed for an Enterprise Centre, although he said that the credit could go back much further to the time of the Pilot Area Scheme. There was also a presentation from the Development Committee to Austin Lydon, who recently retired from FÁS. The chairman, John Kearney, thanked him for all his help and hard work down through the various Community Employment Schemes.

Clonberne Community Development Committee would like to acknowledge that this project was a real Community effort. As in the past, be it Auctions or whatever, when the pressure was on there was no shortage of offers of help. On Sunday morning 16th Nov the Committee outlined various items requiring attention for the official opening. By 3.00 p.m. that day over 20 people had gathered to perform tasks such as painting, fencing, landscaping, sign erection, and all types of cleaning. All worked in harmony until no more could be done. This was the case again on Tuesday & Thursday nights. Therein lies the secret of Clonberne's successes. The Committee would like to thank all those who helped in any way to prepare the Enterprise Centre and the Community Centre for what was a proud moment for their parish. We would also like to thank the local Civil Defence unit for all their help on both Thursday & Friday nights. We know that An Tánaiste and the guests were impressed. A special word of thanks to Tony & Carmel Raftery, and all their staff from the Brehon Park, who prepared and served a beautiful meal under difficult conditions. Thanks to Pat & Pauline Ronayne from the Country Inn for supplying Bar facilities, Martina Kelly for all her help with printing of tickets etc at short , and Freddie Heverin for her beautiful flower arrangements. We would also like to thank John & Fintian Lyons of Clonduff Construction who were the main building contractors, and all those who gave spot prizes for the function. Clonberne Community Development set out to encourage and promote Enterprise in Clonberne and are delighted to say that everything from the building contractor to all the services for the official opening were supplied by Clonberne companies. Finally we would like to wish all our new tenants well in their undertakings, and to thank Enterprise Ireland (main funding body), Respond Housing Association and Galway Rural Development for their financial support. We look forward to working with them in the future.