It'd be a great little town if we could roof it!

Everyone's joked about putting a roof on the country, but that's exactly what Tullamore Town Councillor Tony McCormack wants to do to the centre of Tullamore town to prevent retail leakage. What's more, he says he has backing from none other than D.E. Williams. Cllr McCormack brought a motion to a Tullamore Town Council meeting yesterday (Thursday) asking that the council "look at accessing funding to erect a roof over part of Tullamore Town Centre". According to the councillor the move would not only result in fewer rain-soaked people, it would also stimulate business activity and bring life back to the town. It's not known what affect the move would have on sales of hats and rain gear locally. Speaking to the Offaly Independent Cllr McCormack said he was inspired by Tullamore publican Emmett Lynch, who put a canopy over part of St Kyran Street and held outdoor concerts to mark Lynch's pub's 40th anniversary recently. Cllr McCormack said he went to a concert under the canopy on Saturday night and took part in a charity BBQ competition under the same roof the next day, without ever knowing it was raining. Another event scheduled to take place in the town park on the same weekend had to be cancelled due to bad weather he said. "I didn't even know it was raining until Monday," he added. Tullamore councillors are currently looking at a study that suggests pedestrianising part of the town's streets for some of the week. Though the area to be pedestrianised hasn't been ascertained yet Cllr McCormack thinks putting a roof over it is the way to go, especially as shopping centres that were proposed for the town now look unlikely in the short term. "What is a shopping centre only a streetscape with a roof over it?" Cllr McCormack asked. "We were looking at a shopping centre in the centre of town. While it may happen, it's not going to happen soon. In the meantime we need to do something for our town centre. I feel that putting a roof over part of the town centre would create something people would come to look at a huge atmosphere that would bring people back into the town centre." Cllr McCormack said the idea isn't all that radical, referring to roofed streetscapes in England, Japan and a particularly famous and quite ornate one in Toronto, Canada. "I wouldn't be proposing going down that route; it'd be too ornate," the councillor said. "I was proposing something simpler. We could start off with a portion or a part of the street and do it in such a way we could add to it and add to it." What's more, Cllr McCormack said that on researching the idea he found support from none others than D.E. Williams of Tullamore Dew fame. "This isn't the first time this has been mooted at town council level," Cllr McCormack explained. "When I started into research I found it had been mentioned before at town council level by none other than D.E. Williams himself." And if only for that reason, Cllr McCormack thinks a roof over Tullamore town centre is the way forward. "When we look at what that man developed for the town and what an acute businessman he was...if Tullamore Town Council can follow in what he had mentioned back all those years ago I think it would be fantastic."