Sean Mulryan to be awarded Freedom of Roscommon

The CEO and founder of Ballymore Property Group,Sean Mulryan, will be awarded the Freedom of Roscommon at the town's Council headquarters this afternoon (Tuesday).

Mr Mulryan will receive the award following the adoption of a proposal by councillors at their plenary meeting last month.

The Freedom of Roscommon is a prestigious honour bestowed on an individual who has represented his county both nationally and internationally with great distinction while also being a generous contributor to many worthy local causes in a lifetime of immense service to the community.

In June 2025, Mulryan and his company revealed a masterplan for a new green sustainable city in Athlone to cater for a population of 100,000 by 2040.

The plan proposes a transformation of Athlone as a blueprint for sustainable urbanisation, one that could be replicated to provide regionally balanced growth while enabling Ireland’s green transition.

Mulryan's proposal is for a modern, sustainable city of between 50,000 and 100,000 people within 25 years, with all the elements of progressive urban centre, including improved walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure, and improved facilities.

The masterplan pivots on a huge expansion of the Athlone campus of Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), with student numbers growing from 6,000 to 25,000.

Some 20,000 new homes are also envisioned in the longer-term.

In January of this year the CEO, during a presentation to Roscommon County Council, said that he had brought the hugely-ambitious project for Athlone as far as he could and called for the State to get involved in the ambitious project.

"We need to get them to press the green button and get on with it," he remarked at the time.

An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin has since stated that the masterplan "needs more flesh to be put on the bone" with "more detailed work required".

In September 2025, Mulryan was awarded the Freedom of City of London, one of the city’s oldest and most prestigious honours.

The company CEO was recognised for his transformative contribution to London’s urban landscape over the past four decades, particularly through large-scale regeneration projects that blend architecture, culture, and community.

For over 40 years, Sean Mulryan’s leadership has guided Ballymore from its origins as a family business to becoming an international developer delivering more than 20,000 homes in the UK and 15,000 in Ireland, alongside over 330,000 sq m of commercial space in the past decade alone.

Mr Mulryan is now set to join a distinguished list of recipients of the Freedom of Roscommon, which includes World Champion boxers, Aoife and Lisa O’Rourke; former President of Ireland Mary McAleese and her husband, former Senator Martin McAleese; the late Roscommon football legend Dermot Earley; the late writer, artist and academic, Brian O’Doherty; actor Chris O’Dowd; singer Brendan Shine and businessman Jim Callery, the founder of the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park.