Vol. 561 No. 5
156 Mr. P. Breen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will visit Ennis and Shannon, County Clare, to assess the employment situation in view of the high number of redundancies in recent times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4841/03]
In recent years I have made a number of official visits to counties Limerick and Clare in my capacity as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and will continue to do so according as my official schedule allows. Last November I was pleased to visit both Shannon and Ennis, during which I took the opportunity to visit a number of companies in the area, including Halifax Insurance Ireland, Intel, ICE, and Mentor Graphics. I also had a meeting with a broad-based delegation from Ennis in early December 2002 at which Shannon Development and IDA Ireland were represented.
The issue of job creation is, however, a day to day operational issue for the industrial development agencies under the remit of my Department and not one, for which I, as Minister, have direct involvement.
The recent job losses in County Clare, in which I share the Deputy's concern, arise largely as a result of the globalisation policies of multinational companies on the one hand, and also due to the restructuring process which is going on in indigenous companies in Ireland whereby activities and hence jobs at the lower end of the value added scale are being phased out as these activities become uneconomic in an Irish context. Both IDA Ireland and Shannon Development, which are the relevant industrial development agencies working in the region, are continuing to work closely in the marketing of Ennis as a location for foreign direct investment and also with existing companies in Ennis in an effort to develop and encourage expansion of their businesses and to further embed them in the area.
Both agencies are aware of the potential to Ennis in being designated Ireland's first information age town and, more recently, its designation as a hub in the national spatial strategy taking advantage of its relationship with the Limerick-Shannon gateway and its strategic location between Limerick and Galway. IDA Ireland, through its network of overseas offices, is actively promoting Ennis and its information age town status for new and modern business investment specifically in software development and e-commerce activities.
Shannon Development is actively involved in the establishment of the Ennis Information Age Park. The Shannon Development rationale behind the development of the Information Age Park – Ennis, IAP, is to provide a new focus for industrial development in County Clare and, in particular, for the town of Ennis. The park will offer the potential investor a world class business accommodation and infrastructure in a managed environment, just minutes from the centre of Ennis. This is a major initiative for Ennis and County Clare in general, and will be the key focus of Shannon Development promotional-development activities in County Clare, alongside its Shannon Free Zone programmes.
