Chamber welcomes Interim Report from Mid-West Task Force

04/08/2009

Limerick Chamber welcomes Interim Report from Mid-West Task Force

While every part of this country is struggling to deal with the affects of the dramatic downturn in our economy, last January, the Mid-West region was dealt a particularly severe blow with the announcement of the 1,900 job losses at Dell.  Back then, Limerick Chamber predicted that the closure of manufacturing at the Dell plant could lead to a further 8,000 job losses and called for some definite short term measures and long term strategies to be put in place as a matter of urgency.

The Mid-West Task Force interim report is comprehensive and thorough and contains a number of these measures and strategies which have been issues that Limerick Chamber has lobbied and petitioned local and national government on for many years.  It is now imperative that the Government acts quickly on these recommendations.  This report cannot, like so many reports in the past, sit and gather dust on the shelves of Leinster House.  Nor should another group be established to evaluate the recommendations of this report.  It is six months since the Dell announcement and definite and immediate action is now required.

The Chamber has always insisted that strong regions require strong urban centre’s at their core. We welcome the Task Force’s call for commerce, employment, shopping, leisure and social activities to be focused around the City and their recommendation that funding should be made available as a priority to ensure the pedestrianisation and further enhancement of the City Centre.

The whole area of governance of the City area also needs to be urgently addressed.  Lack of long term vision and co-ordinated planning has seriously threatened our competitiveness and we cannot continue any longer where three local authorities have responsibility for the urban area of Limerick.  We welcome the fact that this issue has been highlighted by the Task Force and if an independent commission is set up, it must be done as a matter of urgency, with tight deadlines for reporting and their recommendations must be implemented immediately.

Shannon Airport has always been a key driver of investment to the Region.  The Customs Pre-Clearance facilities at Shannon provide the airport with the opportunity to become a transatlantic hub and we echo the Task Force’s call for a dedicated and ring fenced marketing fund to promote Shannon as an entry point to the US and to promote new routes in to the airport.  We need an independent and fully resourced Airport and we support the Task Force’s recommendation that pending full separation, greater autonomy be granted to the executive of the Airport.

In July of 2008, the Chamber made a presentation to the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey on improving connectivity to the deep sea Port at Shannon Estuary by bringing forward the Adare bypass and connecting it to the N69 via Askeaton.  The Task Force put forward the same case in their report and we hope this will accelerate the development of this key piece of infrastructure.

The report also highlights that major investment is required to retrain and up-skill our workforce and to get the unemployed back to work.  We must incentivise and promote entrepreneurship.  An important skills base has been built up within Dell and their suppliers particularly in the area of logistics that should not be lost.  We also need to immediately implement measures to stimulate job creation such as build on the jobs retained at Dell, accelerate the Regeneration Master Plans in the City which could create up to 7,000 jobs and offer grants and tax incentives to encourage and enable indigenous companies that may be in a position to diversify or expand their business and generate more employment.

The Mid-West Region has been overly reliant on jobs in manufacturing and construction in recent years. Ireland’s loss of cost competitiveness coupled with the current global economic downturn has exposed the region and resulted in huge increases in those on the live register. The Task Force’s calls for immediate funding to develop the infrastructure required to attract biomedial / biopharma industries, for the establishment of an IDA response unit and for the region to be given priority status are needed urgently if jobs are to be created in the future.

 Limerick Chamber and business leaders in the region are prepared to do whatever is required to strengthen our Region and get it back on the road to recovery.  However we also need the Government to act now on the recommendations in the report.  By making  the right changes and appropriate decisions promptly this Region will become a major stimulus for economic growth and will play a significant role in putting this Region and the Nation back on the road to economic prosperity.

Ends

Maria Kelly
Chief Executive
Limerick Chamber