Sean Loughnane was the second Chairperson of Birr 20|20 Vision from 2022-2024, following in the footsteps of inaugural Chairperson Salters Sterling, who, after the demise of Birr Town Council, gave seven years of outstanding service towards the orderly development of Birr Town, its people and its hinterland.
Following initial education in Birr Boys National School, Cistercian College Roscrea and University College Galway, Sean worked in Northern Ireland as a young Civil Engineer, at the height of the then ‘Troubles’. He returned home to the family business in 1973 and worked tirelessly to help fill the void created by the early demise of his late father Michael, who died in 1964 aged only 51, leaving a widow Madge and her 10 children, none of whom had finished their formal education at that time. Sean became Managing Director in 1975 and Company Chairman in 2000, a post he still holds as a non-executive role.
Construction was markedly difficult in Ireland then with boom-bust recessions in the sixties and seventies, major business disruptions in the eighties and nineties due to oil shortages caused by war, finally followed by an unpredicted financial collapse in 2008… times were very challenging! Happily married to a former languages teacher, Joanne O’Gara from Sligo, they have two sons Eoin and Cormac, a daughter Aoife and four grandchildren Oisin, Cillian, Seamie and Paidi. Sean’s remaining lifetime ambition is to serve and to give back… to his wife and family and to the people of Birr and its hinterland who have supported both Birr Town and the Loughnane family over many years.
