Updated 2nd December 2007

Nominee for Cork BUSINESS Person of the Year 2007

Gerry Murphy was nominated as the August 2007 Cork Business Person of the Month and as such he was a nominee for the Annual Award at a dinner in Cork on Saturday evening 1st December 2007. On the night the overall winner was Michael Barry of Barry Fitzwilliam Maxxium whom we congratulate. Gerry was awarded the Cork Person of the Year in 2001 for his renewal work in Churchtown. See below ...

Posted 25th January 2002

Gerry Murphy becomes Cork Person of the Year 2001

President of Ireland, Mary McAleese presented Churchtown man Gerry Murphy with the Cork Person of the Year 2001 award at a ceremony attended by over 300 people in Jury's Hotel Cork on 25th January 2002. He received his award to recognise his work in renewing and developing his home village of Churchtown.

Nominees for the 2001 award included veteran broadcaster Donncha O'Dulaing, Lions coach Donal Linehan, Sunday Tribune Editor Matt Cooper and Tenor Finbar Wright. The 2000 award winner was Olympic medallist Sonia O'Sullivan. The event is the brainchild of Manus O'Callaghan of Southern Advertising who said at the award ceremony: "the guiding philosophy of these awards is to honour achievement and celebrate success so that others are inspired".

Gerry Murphy founded the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust in 1997 to support the re-development of his native parish which had slipped into steady decline over the previous 30 years. Almost all derelict buildings have now been renovated, the village has increased its Tidy Towns mark by over 45%, a large bronze horse and jockey sculpture has been erected in the village centre and two new schemes of private housing have begun in the village with plans for a third scheme. "The outlook for the village has changed utterly with projected investment approaching €15 million (US$16 million) and we have a new found confidence", Gerry explained.

"The key to rural renewal", Gerry Murphy explained is "to introduce a degree of commercialism into the equation. A commercial discipline has the potential to make the renewal sustainable. That was why as well as founding the Trust we set about developing a commercial centre to the village. This started in 1998 with the development of Boss Murphy House as an 18 bedroomed facility with a restaurant, conference and training facility and now a bar to open in late 2002. Boss Murphy's has up to 17 full and part-time staff on the payroll. With Boss Murphy House almost completed we set about developing a crucial housing initiative which saw us obtaining planning permission for 77 new family homes". Gerry said.

Seventeen new homes have now been sold and up to 20 people are employed on the site by Maurice Gilbert, managing director of Ballyhoura Construction Ltd.

"This is a model for Europe in village renewal and what Gerry and his team, in association with many local groups like the Churchtown Development Association have achieved, is an example to Governments everywhere. I am enormously impressed with the scale and vision of this development, and I know people from around the world will be coming to Churchtown to see the renewal for themselves", said MEP, Brian Crowley when Gerry was nominated.

Churchtown is a Georgian village, situated between Mallow and Charleville in Co. Cork, rebuilt between 1832 and 1849, and much of the original village that remained intact is now restored.

The Churchtown Village Renewal Trust's latest initiative involves the building of a £250,000 Sports Stand with generous dressing facilities underneath. This project when completed will provide a wonderful sports facility for North Cork. When the Sports Stand is completed it is planned to develop seven craft enterprise units as well.

The combined social and commercial renewal involves the holiday facilities, conference centre, sports facilities, community enterprise centre, restoration of derelict sites and houses, walks and cycling routes, 82 new homes, house painting, renewal of footpaths, creation of a nature walk in the medieval village graveyard, stone walls restoration, public sculpture works and the development of a very comprehensive web site at www.Churchtown.net. As part of their brand marketing strategy the Trust have developed the Market House logo to represent Churchtown and have developed Parish Newsletters, bronze plaques, welcome signage, tree planting, award schemes and much more.

"I am accepting this award not just for myself but also for all the people who have supported our renewal process especially FÁS, Ballyhoura Development and Cork County Council. We are also grateful for the support of European Union funded programmes especially the Urban & Village Renewal Scheme, ERDF, Social Fund and Leader Programmes", Gerry said at the presentation.

When John Healy wrote his famous book about the death of an Irish village "No One Shouted Stop", he never anticipated the arrival of a man like Gerry "Boss" Murphy of Churchtown. "Gerry is very much, one of our modern-day local heroes", said Brian Crowley MEP.

For further information, contact

Manus O'Callaghan, Awards Organiser Tel 021 4313744
Gerry Murphy, Award Winner 086 2563 813