By Gordon Deegan
Supermac’s owner Pat McDonagh has restarted plans to put in place a €10m forecourt plaza on the Limerick to Galway motorway.
Mr McDonagh has published a notice of his intention to lodge fresh plans for the drive-thru just off the motorway at Skehanagh outside Ennis on the M18.
The development is to include a service station, convenience shop, food court, children’s play area and picnic area and 16 charging points for electric cars.
Forecourt operator Applegreen had been refused planning permission by Clare County Council and An Bord Pleanála for its own motorway plaza near Dromoland Castle after the five-star hotel objected to the plan.
Supermac’s already has plaza forecourts at Moneygall in Co Offaly and near the M6 at Loughrea in Co Galway.
The Ennis plan will be seeking to repeat the success of the Barack Obama plaza at Moneygall.
There is no plaza on the motorway linking Limerick to Galway but Mr McDonagh has been unsuccessful over the past four years in securing permission for the project.
Mr McDonagh, who first lodged plans at the site in 2014, won permission by Clare County Council, only to be turned down in 2016 by An Bord Pleanála.
The appeals board refused planning on three grounds, ruling the old design would not integrate satisfactorily with the flat landscape in the Ennis hinterland.
Supermac’s says it will create 100 when the plaza is completed.
