COMMUNITY NOTES: BALLYHAUNIS - WESTERN PEOPLE (JANUARY 20 EDITION)
Ballyhaunis businessman Dinal Swaris, who operates the Supermac’s franchise in the town, is hoping the re-opening of the Dome at the GAA Connacht Centre of Excellence will draw new footfall to his store after what he describes as a Christmas trade in Ballyhaunis that was quieter than the previous year.
“Some days it was busy, in patches,” said Dinal who welcomed an indication from Connacht GAA that the Dome will be re-instated in April.
The facility brought much business to Supermacs before it was destroyed by Storm Éoywn in early 2025.
The fast food outlet’s sales in 2025 were up 5% on 2024 revenue but this increase was due to a rise in prices rather than increased customer footfall, Dinal believes.
Dinal feels the hollowing out of retail in Ballyhaunis has hurt sales and believes that people were leaving Ballyhaunis to shop during the Christmas period.
“I also saw younger locals taking the train to Castlerea and Claremorris to do the 12 pubs of Christmas,” he said.
Dinal has set his store the target of increasing sales by 10% year-on-year in 2026 - a goal he thinks is more feasible with a reopening of the Dome. Likewise, seasonal events and festivals that draw people to town are good for sales.
“They can significantly improve the performance of a quarter.”
Dinal is not expecting increases in raw materials, which ran to 10% in 2025, to be repeated this year, but he sees other challenges ahead.
“Finding workers is hard and we have to cover an increase to the minimum wage as well as pension auto-enrollment which kicked in from January 1.”
