About Athlone
Athlone, located at the heart of Ireland, has a population of some 25,000 people, making it one of the largest inland towns in the country. Easily accessible from most parts of Ireland, it is well-serviced by public transport and improvements in the national road network – especially the upgrading of the N6/M6 from Dublin to Galway – are having a positive impact on journey times.
A wide range of amenities and services are available within a 30-kilometre radius of Athlone town. Athlone is an ideal destination for water enthusiasts who may participate in rowing, sailing, cruising, wind surfing, fishing and canoeing on the Shannon and nearby Lough Ree. Cycling, driving and walking trails have also been developed in recent years. Leisure facilities in the area include golf (there are five golf courses within short driving-distance of the town), horse-riding and racing, hunting, tennis, scuba-diving, rowing, sailing, cruising, hockey, camogie, rugby, soccer and Gaelic football. Indoor facilities and activities include gyms, swimming pools, bowling, badminton, snooker/pool, indoor soccer, arts, drama and musical societies. The local rugby club, Buccaneers, plays in the AIB League Division 1B and their home, Dubarry Park, shot to international prominence as venue for all of Ireland’s home under-20 rugby internationals since 2006. Soccer club, Athlone Town, plays in Division 1 of the National League of Ireland, and their new stadium was officially opened in 2007. There is an impressive GAA club and pavilion, swimming pools, a bowling alley and a number of gymnasia in town as well as facilities for equestrian sports. Athlone Regional Sports Centre incorporates a 25-metre heated swimming pool, a fully-equipped fitness suite, a small sports hall and an astro-turf pitch.
Athlone is a busy and prosperous town with an abundance of interesting tourist attractions and excellent restaurants catering for all tastes. The Left Bank area of town has retained much of its old-world character and is currently being revitalised by an extensive renovation programme. The town has been the location of the All-Ireland Amateur Drama Festival for more than fifty years and the Dean Crowe Theatre and Arts Centre in the town has an on-going programme of entertainment.
Athlone currently has an excellent and modern commercial and industrial base and employers in the town include Élan, Ericsson, Tyco Mallinckrodt, ICT Eurotel, Utah Medical, Lund International, M&C Specialties, IO Systems, Athlone Extrusions, Vitabond, Alienware, One Direct, AXA Insurance, Innocol, Pharmaplaz, Teleflex and KCI Medical. The Irish headquarters of leading US university, Georgia Tech, is based in Athlone and has growing collaborations with AIT. The town is also the regional centre for Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, FÁS and the Defence Forces, and the location of the examinations and salaries section of the Department of Education and Science. AIT has been a factor in attracting many of these industries to the town. With its combined population of over 6,000 staff and students, it is an important contributor to the well-being of the regional economy.
Athlone offers a treasure of interesting family-owned, national and international shops from which to choose. The new Athlone Town Centre, with 23,000 sq. metres and 70 retail units, is the largest shopping and leisure centre outside of Dublin. The Golden Island Shopping Centre, which is located less than two kilometres from the institute, offers a blend of quality stores and a multi-screen cinema complex.
Historically, Athlone and the Midlands played a very significant role in the development of Ireland’s intellectual heritage. The town is located not far from the famous early Christian monastery and university of Clonmacnois which established the tradition of learning and scholarship in the Midlands. In the seventeenth century the Midlands experienced the first impact of new scientific learning when Richard Heaton, the father of Irish botany, carried out his fieldwork in Offaly and north Tipperary, and Miles Symner, mathematician and engineer, modernised the fortifications of Athlone. The leading astronomer of the nineteenth century, the third Earl of Rosse, constructed the largest telescope in the world at nearby Birr, Co Offaly. His son, Charles Parsons, was the inventor of the steam turbine and a cousin, Mary Ward, was one of the first Irish women scientists of distinction. Another native of Co Offaly, John Joly, gained renown as a physicist, engineer and geologist. In the twentieth century John Desmond Bernal, the Nenagh-born physicist, was both a fellow of the Royal Society and a Lenin prizewinner. Athlone Institute of Technology, as the first full-scale third-level educational institution in the Midlands, has built on and developed this considerable tradition of learning and technology.
More information on Athlone can be found at www.athlone.ie.
