page_title: Mullingar
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Mullingar / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Church restuarant and Harbour Place Shopping Centre on Castle Street, one of Mullingar's 'high streets'
context_page_description: Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the 3rd most populous town in the midlands region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census.
  The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath. The town was originally named Maelblatha, and takes its modern name from a mill noted in the legend of Colman of Mullingar.
  Traditionally a market town serving the large agricultural hinterland, Mullingar remains a significant commercial location. It had a tradition of cattle-trading until 2003 when its cattle market was closed for development of a mixed commercial and residential scheme called Market Point. However, in 2014 the local County Council have allowed an annual Christmas Market to take place on Mount Street.
  Mullingar has a number of neighbouring lakes, including Lough Owel, Lough Ennell and Lough Derravaragh. Lough Derravaragh is also known for its connection with the Irish legend of the Children of Lir. The town of Mullingar is linked to Lough Ennell via Lacy's Canal and the River Brosna.
context_section_description: Among Mullingar's exports are items of pewterware produced by Mullingar Pewter. Also associated with Mullingar is Genesis Fine Art, which produces gift items. The "Pilgrims" sculpture on Mullingar's Austin Friars Street, at which location there once stood an Augustinian Friary, was crafted by Genesis on foot of a commission by the Mullingar chapter of Soroptimists International.
  Mullingar's commercial sector has expanded in recent years from just a few shops on the town's main thoroughfares – Oliver Plunkett Street, Austin Friars Street, and Mount Street – to several major shopping areas. There is an out-of-town retail park at Lakepoint (about 1.6 km from the town centre), the Harbour Place Shopping Centre near the town centre, and a development at the Green – on the site of the former Avonmore and Penneys units.
  The town has a mix of local retailers and chain stores, and branches of the major banks. The town also has a credit union, Mullingar Credit Union (formerly known as St. Colman's House).
  A proposed development, named "Mullingar Central", was to have been located between Mount Street, the Railway station and Blackhall Street. Planning permission was granted for retail, commercial and residential units. Phase 1, which included tax offices, library, civic offices and County Council buildings was officially opened on 11 June 2009. Phase 2, however, did not proceed.
  Mullingar contains several industrial estates including Lough Sheever Corporate Park and Clonmore Industrial Estate and Mullingar Business Park.  The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) also has a business park at Marlinstown. As of 2015, only one plot on the site has been acquired by an employer, Patterson Pumps, which is constructing a new plant to which it intends moving its entire Irish operation from its current location, at Mullingar Business Park. Two of the town's manufacturing plants – Penn tennis balls and Tarkett – both closed in the early 2000s causing many job losses. Other local employers include the Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar, P.E.M. Engineering, Trend Technologies, Taconic International, and Mullingar Pewter.
  The town is home to a €25m Lidl warehouse and distribution centre.
  Mullingar has a Chamber of Commerce which represents almost 200 businesses from varying commercial sectors.
caption: Castle Street is one of the town's high streets
exif: {"Image Make": "Vodafone", "Image Model": "Vodafone Smart ultra 6", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2016:06:08 16:50:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "2", "Image GPSInfo": "702", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "822", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "27505", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/551", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:06:08 16:50:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:06:08 16:50:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "1821/200", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "2147483647/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "379/100", "EXIF SubSecTime": "035644", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "035644", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "035644", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4160", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2340", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "672", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "174", "EXIF SensingMethod": "0", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up"}