Town’ s huge potential outlined at brainstorming session
MORE than 80 people attended a ‘ brainstorming’ session about the future of New Ross where the huge potential of the town based on its location and availability of property options was outlined.
A panel of local business leaders including Richard Nolan of Nolan Transport, Paschal Bolger of Culcita, Pauline Oakes, CEO at Integer New Ross, John Stacey of StickerAds and David Cooney of Morgan McKinley addressed the crowd at the Brandon House Hotel.
Organised by Invest Wexford, an inward investment venture run by Clongeen native Ed Murphy – in conjunction with Wexford County Council and New Ross Municipal District, the event saw business leaders from the community come together for the first time in years for round table discussions about ways to attract new businesses and companies to the town centre.
County Wexford Chamber President Sean Reidy outlined the major investments in and around New Ross in the past year, which he said, are not only great for tourists, but are great for the lifestyle of residents – while attracting talent to live and work in the New Ross area.
Mr Murphy addressed the crowd about the attractiveness of County Wexford and how to sell that message to companies, be it through contacts people have or by making direct contact with companies around the world. He said: ‘Invest Wexford‘s goal is to create 500 new jobs per year in County Wexford for the next five years. Today’s goal is asking you for input, ideas, energy, support and connections on how we can transform New Ross into a vibrant and economically successful town that we can be proud of and to create 500 to 1,000 jobs in the town over next five years.’
The new M11 and N25 motorways extension places New Ross in a much stronger position in the south east with greatly improved connectivity to the north, south and west and a with a hinterland of 150,000 people within a half an hour drive, he said.
‘Now it is finally New Ross’s time to grow and develop and to enjoy the benefits of being bypassed. However, we know from experience elsewhere that this does not happen automatically. It will take a combined effort of all to position the town to benefit from being bypassed. There are great companies already in Co Wexford and New Ross. We not only need to help these existing businesses to grow; but we really need to attract new businesses and new quality jobs to New Ross. I believe that we can all look with real optimism for the future development of New Ross, but this positive change will not happen automatically. It will take a combined effort of all to position the town to benefit from being bypassed.’
Having outlined some of the international companies who have already located in Co Wexford, Mr Murphy said there is already a significant talent pool in the region, including 10,000 people employed in pharma and medical device company jobs, 31,000 in the engineering and industrial sector and 7,000 in financial services,
He said all of the county’s towns have high speed fibre broadband, highlighting also how the new dual carriageways in Enniscorthy and New Ross have reduced access time into the county.
Mr Murphy said New Ross will soon have tens of thousands of square footage of Grade A commercial property space, with rents as low as €18 per square foot.
‘ The cost of doing business in Wexford is 33 per cent lower than it is in Dublin, while three bed houses (at €220,000) cost 67 per cent lower than Dublin.’
He highlighted the fact that there are 10,000 college graduates living within a 90 mile radius of the county, and how there is 40 per cent more disposable income in the county than in Dublin.
‘89 per cent of professionals surveyed said they were satisfied or very satisfied with moving to the south east.’
He encouraged people to network and to use their contacts to encourage companies to consider opening a branch in New Ross.
Alan Corcoran of South East Radio was MC for the event, and he interviewed the panel of speakers.
Round table discussions followed around the future economic development of New Ross.
Among the items up to discussions were: `What key changes do you think need to happen now to transform New Ross into a vibrant and economically successful town?’
`What can Wexford County Council do to create a positive environment of engagement and participating of the business community and people from the town to attract investment and jobs?
`What do you think that we, as business leaders and members of the wider business community, can do to attract business investment and quality jobs to New Ross? And `what for you are the key elements of a successful future vision for New Ross in 2030?’ Everyone was asked to complete a feedback form and Mr Murphy said he is looking forward to hearing the input and contributions of everyone attending the event, adding that a committee is 12 is being formed, provisionally called the Selling New Ross Team.