The Government is well on target with its Action Plan for Jobs strategy, according to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
“We are on course to exceed our initial target of 100,000 new jobs by the end of next year, he said at Shannon Chamber’s annual president’s lunch in Dromoland Castle today (Monday).
Another jobs announcement today in Ennis shows that new jobs are being created across the country and not just in Dublin. The recent budget was designed to secure recovery further – promoting new jobs and investment in the regions, working across the economy and across the country with businesses like those represented here today. I am confident that the growing recovery of Ireland’s economy will have a positive impact on the Shannon Region.”
Welcoming the Government’s support for Shannon, particularly the decision to enable Shannon Airport operate as an independent entity, as part of the recently established Shannon Group, Chamber president, Kevin Thompstone said that the risk of doing so is paying off ,with the evidential addition of new air services and increasing passenger numbers.
Describing Shannon as a Special Economic Zone, a term widely used in China and the Middle East for areas of economic activity that encompass an airport/port, a high concentration of industry in a range of sectors, which Shannon has; a gateway town with a population of over 10,000; and a workforce of similar proportions, Mr Thompstone said the constant reinvention and diversity of these clusters has enabled Shannon manage economic ups and downs in one sector through balancing growth in others.
“Shannon is now well placed to build on this, contribute to regional and national economies, and provide a counterpole to the high concentration of activity on the east coast. A strong policy direction from government to the investment promotion
agencies is now needed to drive this forward,” Mr Thompstone said.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.