Monksland outlet to set up furniture making facility

An Athlone-based company is hoping to set up a furniture manufacturing facility in Ferbane, which could create a number of new jobs in the local business and technology park.

Tom and Sarah Curley of Home Suite Home, located in Monksland, have purchased two sites, numbers 25 and 26, at Ferbane Business and Technology Park with a view to developing a "custom-built" facility for manufacturing furniture.

The disposal of the sites to Home Suite Home, for €50,000, was approved at a recent meeting of Offaly County Council on October 19.

The project is at a preliminary stage, as planning permission would still have to be secured before the manufacturing facility could be developed.

Details provided to councillors in advance of the recent meeting stated that Tom and Sarah Curley owned the Home Suite Home furniture retail business, at Westpoint Retail Park in Athlone, and that they had found furniture "increasingly difficult to source" due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"They have decided that the only way they can continue to successfully grow their business is for them to be self-sufficient and to commence manufacturing their own furniture in a custom-built industrial unit in Ferbane. A number of new jobs will be created as a result of this new business," the councillors were told.

Ferbane councillor Eamon Dooley confirmed that the disposal of the two sites to Home Suite Home was approved at the recent Offaly County Council meeting.

Last week, the Westmeath Independent contacted Sarah Curley, who said the company didn't wish to comment further on their plans at this early stage.