Shannon loses out as decentralisation scrapped

HUNDREDS of jobs that had been expected to come to Shannon under decentralisation will not be coming, after the Government announced the scrapping of further decentralisation programmes this week.
In the Government’s Public Sector Reform Plan, a review of Shannon Development’s tourism function was also announced.
Another 226 postions had been due to come to Shannon resulting from the decentralisation of Enterprise Ireland and a further 102 positions by relocating the headquarters of the Irish Aviation Authority in Shannon.
Sixty-six people were working within Enterprise Ireland in Shannon last year, as part of a so-called ‘advance party’. However, the figure of 66 included 40 Shannon Development posts that had been absorbed into Enterprise Ireland.
In December of 2009, both Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Aviation Authority were on a list of decentralisation projects deferred pending a 2011 review.
Last Thursday, the Government’s Public Sector Reform Plan listed the Irish Aviation Authority as a decentralisation project that would be cancelled. It also put Enterprise Ireland on a list of projects to be reviewed.
Announcing that the Irish Aviation Authority headquarters will not be decentralised, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said, “Decentralisation was one of the most deranged and costly political adventures undertaken by any government in recent history.
“The policy was flawed from the start and in the current economic climate, there is no justification for it to continue. I am pleased that it has now been cancelled.”
Councillor Patricia McCarthy said that while the lack of decentralisation was negative, she wasn’t particularly surprised. “I always would have had doubts about it, especially about the decentralisation of Enterprise Ireland. It’s disappointing but it’s been postponed for so long that I think it was nearly forgotten about. The writing has been on the wall about decentralisation for some time. As a concept, it didn’t appear to be very well thought out.”
Her fellow town and county councillor Sean McLoughlin was also of the view that not enough planning had gone into decentralisation.
The Fine Gael representative said Shannon has lost a very large amount of jobs in the last few years and the boost that was due to come through decentralisation would have been very welcome. “It’s a shame the jobs aren’t coming. It would have made a huge difference to the local economy and to the people of Shannon but really, were they ever going to come? When it was announced, we were all very happy about it but in my opinion, it wasn’t thought out completely. It wasn’t always practical for people to move and I feel it should have been over a few years. It’s important that we keep trying to get more industry in here because we have lost a lot of jobs.”