County‘ aggressively marketed’ for industry
April 2005
WICKLOW is being ‘aggressively marketed’ in order to attract new industry to the county, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Wicklow People in an exclusive interview on Friday last.
He highlighted proposed developments in Arklow and Bray which would generate new jobs however, Wicklow town remained a black spot with no mention of any initiatives to replace the recent job losses in Veha.
He acknowledged that the apparent lack of job creation initiatives was one of the major issues effecting the county. Veha in Wicklow town and AO Smith in Bray had closed, Dell was moving from Bray and Schering Plough in Rathdrum had shed jobs and there was no sign of any new industry coming in, he commented.
‘ The recent losses have caused huge upset for families and people in the area. But the government has been working with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to ensure job opportunities continue to grow in Wicklow,’ he said.
He pointed to a number of initiatives currently underway. Enterprise Ireland had approved funding for 60 firms in the county for expansion which in turn would create new jobs.
The organisation would continue to work with community groups for example with the Arklow and Wicklow enterprise centres to help foster new industry, he pledged.
On the foreign investment front, the Taoiseach said that the IDA had a number of projects and positive developments. He pointed to the development of a new business and technology park to be sited off the bypass in Arklow which would be particularly suited to the pharmaceutical and biotechnological fields and these sectors were being targeted with a view to attract them to the area. The IDA was investing €3 million in the project.
He added that Wicklow County Council had industrial sites in Arklow, Aughrim and Blessington.
Road development was key to attracting development, he said. The recent upgrading of the N11 with the Ashford-Rathnew bypass, through the Glen of the Downs and the proposed link from Greystones to the N11 would facilitate the opening up of the county, he felt.
‘It’s now easy to get to Dublin. The problem previously was that access to Dublin was slow. That was the excuse. But these excuses are gone now and from the point of view of natural beauty and roads, this county is attractive for investors,’ he stated.
He added that despite the recent job losses there were other companies announcing expansion including Servier in Arklow and Takeda, a Bray based pharmaceutical company, which had announced expansion plans and an additional 90 jobs. A small greenfield site had also been found for a business park in Bray.’
‘ There is a lot of activity going on in government to assist in lowering unemployment in Wicklow. The road improvements will open the county up.
‘ The same thing has already happened in Dundalk and Drogheda with the opening of the road to the border. There will be aggressive marketing of the county around the road structure and hopefully this will pull in industry,’ the Taoiseach said.