The Sunday Tribune 10 September 2000 News Features Page 12
Mystery man who wants to make a city
He's
been involved in secret peace talks; now he plans a city for Mayo.
Richard
Oakley meets the enigmatic William Thomas
William Thomas: wants to build a brand new city 10 miles from Knock JOE O’SHAUGHNESSY
MEET the small man with a big idea: William A Thomas. A Galway businessman who invents bullet-proof life-jackets, works indirectly for the Vatican, and has been involved in international peace bids. He wants to build a new city in the west and call it 'The City of the Sacred Heart'.
His dream has been noted with interest by the government. It is familiar to those living in the west and it has been dubbed as an "interesting, but crazy plan" by some commentators.
Most people are waiting to see what the Department of the Environment makes of Thomas's ambitious vision. They do not know what to make of Thomas himself. A larger than life character, he has come across as a somewhat mysterious individual. Few people know of him aside from his plan and as a result some people believe him to be "joking" when they hear he wants to develop a new city 10 miles from Knock in the middle of Connacht.
Thomas, however, is unperturbed by what people think. He has no intention of waiting for the Department of the Environment to respond to his proposal, but instead has taken it upon himself to attract foreign investment for his new city.
Last week, in an apartment in Galway which serves as an office for his shipping company, he outlined how his plan was developing and where he sees it going. He also, for the first time in a media interview, answered questions about his background, expertise and qualifications.
A native of Galway, he has preached the gospel of his new city in the west to numerous US newspapers, and has contacted some of the world's richest businessmen seeking their support. He has also, it seems, met with some success, having captured the imagination of some of the world's most high profile firms, such as Richard Branson's Virgin corporation and South Korean engineering giant Daewoo. He also claims to be in contact with the world's richest man, Bill Gates, who he said is interested in investing in the plan and is to visit Ireland soon to meet Thomas in person.
However, his plan has been met with scepticism in Ireland. A number of people have said that his idea, although well-meaning, is unrealistic. A person just can't build a city from scratch. But Thomas is not an ordinary person. His city in the west is just his latest project, one of a number of extraordinary ventures.
He calls these projects hobbies and says they involve things he is interested in. However, they do not equate with the normal everyday activities most people find to do in their spare time.
"I'm not the type of person who just sits on their ass the whole way through their life. I don't see a point in doing things that waste time. If you go into any pub in Galway at any time in the day there are people in there drinking pints. I don't think this is a good thing. I mean where is the future in it?" he said.
The managing director of Rockwell Shipping, a registered company described in official records as "being involved in business as a shipping broker", Thomas said his firm acts on behalf of continental-based trawler companies, designs marine equipment and works on the development of communications technology. He said he had already developed high-tech military clothing of benefit to navy or coastguards. "My company is involved in the development of strategic communications. We are international defence and naval consultants," he said.
In his office, he has on display a number of bulletproof life-jackets, which he refers to as "ballistic flotation units". The jackets were developed by him and he has successfully sold them to the Irish navy, a fact confirmed by a spokesman for the Department of Defence. The spokesman also said that Thomas’s company has tendered for other contracts related to the defence forces.
"The jackets are just one of the things we have developed. At present, we have sold them to the Irish navy and we are now looking at selling them to other interested parties including the US Coastguard," he explained.
Asking his personal assistant to bring out folder after folder, he said that he has been involved in high-level peace talks with a number of international bodies. The work, however, is confidential, he says, and he is not at liberty to talk about it.
He explained that he is the Irish representative for the Marconi Corporation, the global communications company, and confirms local newspaper reports that have named him as working indirectly for the Vatican. "I believe that normal people can have a huge impact on the world and so I have taken it upon myself to get involved in world events and to do what I can to help," is how Thomas explained it. And from information provided by some sources this would appear to be the case.
The Sunday Tribune has confirmed that Thomas was involved in an international peace bid. The Department of Foreign Affairs has had regular dealings with him and a spokesman said that it had ascertained that a number of international governments are aware of his humanitarian work.
A recent article in The Sligo Champion reported on how Thomas was the man charged with tracking down the Irish of genealogy of Mother Celestine Bottego, the foundress of the Missionaries of Mary, who is expected to be beatified some time next year.
"In her writings, which I was supplied with, she stated that her family originally came from Ballinafad in Sligo. I started working on finding out where her roots were and discovered her ancestral home where some members of her family still live. A delegation, including the priest who proposed her beatification, is now going to come over to visit the house," he said.
Calls to those he has claimed are interested in investing in his new city have also verified his claims, as have letters he has showed to The Sunday Tribune. "Mr Thomas has been in touch with Virgin Rail and has been dealing with a number of our executive staff. We have expressed an interest in what he is proposing and this should culminate in an official visit to Ireland to further discuss his plans," a spokesman for Virgin said.
Born in Barna, in Galway, in 1946, Thomas, who speaks more than five languages, was educated in Switzerland before attending college in the US. He returned to Ireland in 1992, but has said that he won’t stay here if his plan does not go ahead. "I don't see a future for myself in an Ireland that has no imagination or vision. I won't stay here if there is no new city. There just wouldn't be anything keeping me here."
The Sunday Tribune 10 September 2000 News Features Page 12
Gates, Virgin express interest
WILLIAM A Thomas wants to build his planned new city in an area north of Ballyhaunis straddling the Mayo and Roscommon border. “The new city should be in the center of the west of Ireland, ideally within 10 miles of Knock international airport, east of Ballagnaderreen, south of Charleston, east of Kilkelly and north of Castlerea. This location gives the county coverage that will be required for success, especially with access to Donegal – but covers also Sligo, Fermanagh, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Galway and Mayo,” he said.
He believes the city will cost over £100 billion, an amount he is prepared to raise by attracting foreign investment from companies like Virgin Corporation, engineering firm Daewoo and Microsoft. “I have contacted a large number of companies in the US, the UK, Australia, Asia and on the continent. The project has been met with huge interest. It is still only in its early stages, but if I can build on what I have so far, it can be realised.”
He said the funding for the project would be forthcoming and he has claimed that Daewoo has already quoted a potential figure of £20 billion. Representatives of the company are to travel to Ireland soon to meet Thomas in person, as are officials from Virgin Trains. Thomas also claims that Bill Gates is set to visit and that he has informed the government of the Microsoft boss’s planned trip. “At the beginning I wanted the government to help fund the project, but I don’t think this will be necessary. All I need is their support. I will deliver the plans complete with funding; all they have to do is to say ‘yes, go ahead and build it’,” he said. In the past, governments have passed special legislation allowing developers to build in some areas without planning permission. Thomas has said his plan will require a similar allowance and he has confirmed that he will also be looking for tax incentives for the area.
He is angry with how he perceives Ireland is developing. In Galway, his apartment overlooks the quays area of the city. Watching the cranes, the traffic and the constant development has convinced him that our cities, in particular Dublin, are overcrowded and that people are suffering as a result. The west, he said, is “losing out” because of the government emphasis on the east coast. “The government plan is to build 12 satellite towns around Dublin, but this is crazy. Presently, cities around Ireland are growing at an alarming rate, but roads and infrastructure were designed over 100 years ago and no longer cope with the demand for fast movement.
Thomas: claims that Bill Gates is to visit him soon to discuss the city plan
“Cities are gridlocked and there is no future planning. However, development is racing ahead, only to provide the basic demand for housing with sprawling suburbs and no infrastructure. For many, it offers no future, for most, a lifetime of commuting and huge debts, that in some cases can never be repaid,” he said.
If he manages to get his plan off the ground, Thomas intends to avoid what he describes as the mistakes of the past. “The city I plan will have parks and amenities. There will be no housing estates, there will be facilities for the young and everyone will have space. We are talking about building something that is completely radical in design and infrastructure. A city the country can be proud of,” he said.
His plan is now with the Department of the Environment and is under consideration as part of the National Spacial Strategy, the country’s development document which is being drawn up at present. Thomas, in the meantime, is continuing work because he wants parts of the city to be built by 2010.
The plan has its supporters and its detractors. Local newspapers and community groups have backed it and the reports are that local people are enthusiastic toward it. A number of councillors and politicians in the west have also welcomed it. Fine Gael senator John Connor, who lives in Roscommon, has called on the government to support the proposal. He has described it as “innovative and absolutely appropriate to the new and rapidly changing need of this country”. John Higgins, the general secretary of the PDs, said he fully endorsed the idea. “The proposal makes sense. It is not anti-Dublin but simply recognises the need to alleviate the pressures on our capital city,” he said. The plan has also received the backing of Bishop Thomas Flynn, the bishop of Achonry.
However, Marian Harkin, the chairwoman of Council for the West, has said it is not “an appropriate model for development within the region” and she described it as an “urban solution to a rural problem”. “A £100 billion city would become almost the sole focus for development, hovering up the population from surrounding counties and would ensure that the balanced development of the whole area comprising the west and north west would never be realised,” she said.
The Department of the Environment has also questioned the necessity of the proposed city. In an interview with The New York Times, Finian Matthews, the director of the of the Department of the Environment unit working on the National Spatial Strategy has stated that its main focus will be on the development of existing topwns rather than building new ones. He claimed the department has yet to “rule out any option” but he was described as reading the proposal with “an expression that was somewhere between a grimace and a grin”.