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Athenry, Co.Galway, Ireland

Athenry Local News Archive

Athenry-Oranmore IDA plan needed to secure county’s industrial future
THE IDA have unveiled their blueprint for the future of industrial development in Co. Galway which focuses on the creation of a major new science and technology park on the outskirts of Athenry and a similar linked development in Oranmore.
The IDA issues a stark warning to local authority members at City and County Hall that Galway could either seize the moment and ensure the future of industrial development in the county and region or they would face losing out to other locations in Europe and around the world who were competing for international mobile investment.
The proposal involves acquiring an 80-acre site owned by the City Council in Oranmore to locate the first phase of an international-standard science and technology park as part of the proposed Ardaun corridor linking the city and then a further 300-acre development earmarked for what is understood to be Athenry Agricultural College lands. The IDA hope to have the Oranmore phase at “turnkey” stage by 2006 and the Athenry phase complete within six years.
Development consultant Dr. Conor Sheehan told Galway Co. Council at City Hall on Monday that scepticism about this proposal would be a fatal mistake. This, he said, was a very important day in the history of County Galway and the benefits were there for the taking.
He stated that for each individual job provided by the IDA proposal there would be at least two other ‘knock on’ jobs in the area. This, he added, meant if there were 5,000 new jobs in the Oranmore-Athenry campus this would translate into approximately 15,000 new jobs.
Dr. Sheehan also estimated that the development could bring about a jump in population of between 30,000 to 40,000 thousand people in the area and he urged the Co. Council to take this into consideration when revising their transport plans. Dermot Clohessy of the IDA said that, in line with Government and IDA policy and within the framework of the National Spatial Strategy (NSS), it was important to continue the push for a more balanced spread of economic development across the country.Galway, and the West as a whole, needs to lay strong foundations to be competitive for the future and this includes forward planning on the availability of land with the necessary infrastructure to support significant national inward investment projects. It was essential, he added, that such planning happens in a partnership between the local authorities and IDA and he gave high praise to the local authorities and the Galway County and City Managers for the responsive and co-operative approach on many issues over the past.
He added that having a key large-scale site, well serviced and provided with the highest quality access and infrastructure, to offer attractive property solutions for significant national inward investment projects was an important missing feature in the Region that will be remedied by this proposal.
Emmanuel Dowdall said that IDA had invested heavily over recent years in ensuring that Galway city and county had the right and sufficient property solutions for the normal inward investment activity and that this strategy had delivered excellent results. The IDA property programme, he added, had delivered a network of international calibre business parks in the city and county which included developments in Galway city, Tuam, Ballinasloe, Loughrea and Gort.
“We want now to future proof the county and the region for the 20-year horizon of the NSS and ensure that we can offer a major regional centrepiece that will be attractive for inward investment,” he said.
He added that IDA’s focus for inward investment was to see the region attracting some new key manufacturing investments in the Life Sciences and Biopharma sectors and also progress further the objective of the region being a quality location for the Information Technology sector.