1,500 new jobs proposal

SHANNON Development hopes to create 1,500 new jobs by 2013, it claimed in a submission to the Draft Mid-West Regional Planning Guidelines (RPGs) for 2010-22.
In the submission, it also sets targets of increasing total Shannon Free Zone sales by 10%, having Free Zone in-house R&D investment doubled and securing 40 additional projects for the Zone, all by 2013.
The submission called for the guidelines to acknowledge the importance of the Free Zone. “In terms of its scale and impact the Shannon Free Zone is a key regional economic asset and is central to the Mid-West Region’s future economic development. This role could be referenced in the RPGs, along with the Free Zone’s potential to improve the economic performance of the Limerick-Shannon Gateway between 2010 and 2022.”
It also states that there are opportunities to make significant improvements in the region. “The Mid-West Region has been identified in the Forfas Regional Strategic Agenda report as having a number of economic weaknesses compared with other areas of the country. They include the region’s dependence on traditional manufacturing and levels of educational attainment. These weaknesses can also be seen as opportunities for growth if they are addressed effectively.
“A shift of the region’s workforce towards higher value-added manufacturing and traded services would produce a growth ‘dividend’ for the region. Equally enhanced levels of educational attainment in the region’s labour force will increase productive capacity and raise the Mid-West’s longer-term growth potential.”
“This is the positive outlook that Shannon Development wishes to communicate to the Mid-West Regional Authority and our regional stakeholders in the comments that follow in this submission.
“We believe that with the right mix of policies, programmes and projects the public and private sectors can raise the region’s economic performance and create new opportunities for sustainable wealth and employment creation. Collectively, we must position the region to take advantage of the economic recovery that soon will begin to take hold. Reviewing and updating the Mid-West RPGs is a good opportunity to start this process.”
The submission also states that promoting Shannon Airport is key to its plans for tourism.