Ballymore chief Sean Mulryan outlines plan to transform Athlone into green '15-minute city'

Steering group formed for proposal which would see population rise to up to 100,000

Sun, 22 Jun, 2025 - 11:13

Martin Claffey

The founder of property firm Ballymore Sean Mulryan has proposed a plan to develop Athlone into a green '15-minute city' with a population of 100,000 in the next 15 years.

Mr Mulryan has formed a steering group to look into the plan, which would see the TUS Athlone campus cater for up to 25,000 students as a centre of excellence in green technology and to construct 20,000 zero carbon homes in its first phases.

It envisions road networks tailored for electric driverless buses, with 90% of Athlone's energy resources coming from renewable sources.

"Our vision could drive genuine balanced distribution of the impending population growth in Ireland and offer a blueprint for sustainable, education-led, employment-driven, and environmentally focused urban development nationwide," said the Ballymore chair and chief executive, who is from Roscommon.

“We are sharing that vision now with wider Irish society, and we will do all we can to help it become a reality. But this plan needs to be driven from the top by government – by this administration and by the successor governments that take office in the years ahead – if it is to come to pass.”

The new steering group for the plan sees Mr Mulryan joined by former chair of the Revenue Commissioners and chair of the governing body of Technological University of the Shannon, Josephine Feehily; Goldman Sachs private equity co-head and chair Adrian Jones, Alchelyst chief Joan Kehoe, former DCU president Prof. Brian MacCraith, Irish Rail chief Jim Meade, and Ballymore deputy managing director Linda Mulryan-Condron, who is Mr Mulryan's daughter.

Ballymore Group was established in 1982 by Mr Mulryan and has built 35,000 houses across Ireland, the UK, and Europe.