Taking the Mid-West to task

THE Mid-West Task Force shouldn’t be hijacked for political gain, according to Clare TD Timmy Dooley.
At last Thursday’s Dáil debate he said that it was a topic that shouldn’t be used for political point scoring.

“I had the opportunity to discuss with Denis Brosnan, the chairperson of the task force, his views on these issues and his concerns about the advancement of some of the elements identified in the report.
“He made it clear to all of us that he wanted a co-operative approach across all political divides and stressed the necessity of avoiding political point scoring. Politics being politics, perhaps he as a former chief executive could carry off that suggestion. However, it has not happened and there has been a level of going for the soundbite rather than taking action.
“This is unfortunate because this is not about the task force nor the recommendations. It is about the lives of men, women and children who have been affected by the scourge of unemployment, by the disastrous decision of Dell to leave and move to Poland, with the loss of 1,900 jobs, and the knock on effect that has had on other supporting enterprises and industries. It behoves all of us to try to find solutions. We must move away from the necessity to score political points.”
He denied that the Government has turned its back on the Mid-West region.
“There was some talk of a lack of investment in the Mid-West and of ignoring the region with regard to investment and infrastructure. The region has done exceptionally well because of the efforts of members on all sides of the House to campaign for infrastructural investment. The Ennis bypass and the ongoing construction of the road between Gort and Crusheen are cases in point. At a time when there has been a reduction in the amount spent on capital projects, commencing the work on the route between Gort and Galway is vital. The tunnel in Limerick will provide very significant infrastructure to assist in the development of Shannon airport. Quite a bit of money has been spent on the airport over the years.
“The Mid-West region has not been ignored. There has been investment in the Western Rail Corridor and the station at Sixmilebridge has been opened. I hope there will be an announcement very shortly on the reopening of a train station at Crusheen. These are all vital investments in infrastructure of which the Government can be proud. To suggest that we ignored the region in good times is wrong, although that is not to say there is not a difficulty at present.”

IDA brought 18 potential investors to region last year – Tánaiste

EIGHTEEN potential investors were brought to the Mid-West by the IDA last year, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan told the Dáil.
As the House discussed the Mid-West Task Force, Ms Coughlan said that a lot of work had gone into promoting the region to employers.
“A strong promotion effort is under way in relation to foreign direct investment (FDI). IDA Ireland is working very hard overseas in continuing to strongly promote the Mid-West to potential visitors. This is evidenced by the fact that the agency hosted 18 visits to the region by potential investors in 2009.”
She said that several multinational companies are already looking for staff in Clare and Limerick.
“FDI investments take some time to be put in place. In this regard a number of companies who announced investments in 2008 and 2009 are currently recruiting. This includes Vistakon, Channel Advisor, ON Semi, Cook Medical and DTS in Limerick, Microsemi in Ennis and Intel in Shannon.”
She acknowledged that the region is feeling the effects of the downturn. “Enterprise Ireland client employment in the Mid-West Region in 2009 was over 9,100. Nevertheless it is clear that the economic downturn is resulting in a negative effect on employment creation. The effect on job retention, particularly in certain sectors such as construction and construction-related industries, has been significant with a net decrease of numbers employed in EI companies. A key driver of employment growth in the region will be the presence of innovative start up companies. Five such high potential start-ups were established in the Mid-West in 2009, with EI support.”
She said that the IDA are working on a new strategy, for which regional development will be a priority.
“I recognise that the Mid-West region has been more affected than most other regions by job losses in manufacturing and internationally traded services in the past ten years, and particularly so in 2009.
“IDA Ireland is currently finalising a new strategy for the coming decade with a particular focus on the period 2010-14. This will see the IDA putting a strong effort into the regions, including the Mid-West, which have recently fared less well in employment terms.”
There is a need for a certain amount of structural reorganisation in the economy of the Mid-West, she said.
“The region does have a higher proportion of its workforce employed in the manufacturing and industrial sector than any other region, a number of which are involved in high volume production,” she noted. However, Ms Coughlan said there has been notable growth in ICT services activity and internationally traded services activity generally, as well as in the medical technologies sector.