KildareNet News

ALLENWOOD, 19 August 2002: by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. The fact that the Allenwood Enterprise Park has 18 businesses located there and that some 66 people consider the park their place of work is just one measure of success of the project, Kildare's deputy mayor Michael Fitzpatrick said yesterday at the annual Blueberry Fair and Open Day.

"The success also lies in what people have given to the project," he said. "In addition, significant numbers of people come here to learn about computers, and to seek information from the resource centre in the park.

The Allenwood Enterprise Park was set up by the Allenwood Community Development Association Ltd, with support from the ESB, Kildare County Council and the County Enterprise Board, KELT, the OAK Partnership and a number of government agencies.

"When you look around at the facilities, I am sure you will agree we can be justifiably proud," Cllr Fitzpatrick - who is also chairman of ACDAL). "You can see the park is growing greener, the plants maturing as the grass gets established."

He also officially marked the opening of the latest building project in the development, a conservatory addition and kitchen to the main building which will be used for a number of functions in various elements of ACDAL's work in the park.

The occasion was also used to make a presentation to Marie MacNaéidhe, whose late husband Fionn was the Teagasc advisor on soft fruits and who provided a major input into the development of the blueberry industry both in North West Kildare and other parts of the country. The presentation, of a statue carved from turf, was made by John O'Sullivan, chairman of the Irish Blueberry Growers Association.

Project manager Ian Donald said the developement of the blueberry business in the area was the product of 'hard work and perseverance, and belief in a vision'. "Just as the people of Allenwood built the enterprise park out of a derelict site, you have grown the blueberries on land few believed could produce a crop," he said. "It would otherwise be waste land."

The local project now has over 7,500 producing blueberry plants which last year produced half a tonne an acre. The eventual ambition is that the 10 acres available for development would be producing a tonne per acre annually. The project is in progress now for four years, and will take another three before the plants are producing full.

"Blueberries have many health properties," Ian Donald says. "They stop the ageing process and lower cholesterol. People keep telling toy 'don't eat this, don't eat that', this other is bad for you'. Well, every summer I find something I can eat that I know is good for me."

At the Open Day yesterday, many businesses at the business park showed their products. There was also entertainment for children, including a Punch and Judy Show, story-telling and face-painting, as well as music and sales of blueberries and blueberry-related products.