IDA Ireland has statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment to the mid-west region, except for the Shannon Free Zone, which falls within the remit of Shannon Development. Shannon Development is also responsible for supporting indigenous enterprises in the mid-west region. The six city and county enterprise boards located in the region also help develop indigenous enterprise potential and stimulate economic activity at local level.
The total number of jobs in IDA Ireland and Shannon Development client companies for the three years 2001, 2002 and 2003 was 35,096, 31,848 and 30,805 respectively. While this shows a decline in overall employment, the agencies assisted in the creation of 2,468 new jobs in the region in 2001, 1,899 in 2002 and 1,719 in 2003. This performance must be seen against a background of a difficult external economic environment. The recent decision by Guidant Corporation to significantly expand its operation in Clonmel will have a positive benefit for the entire county.
Responsibility for the provision of industrial property solutions within the mid-west region lies with Shannon Development. IDA Ireland works closely with Shannon Development in the promotion and marketing of these tailored property solutions, throughout the mid-west. These include the National Technology Park in Limerick and the Tipperary technology park in Thurles, which is part of the Shannon development knowledge network. Five companies operate out of the Thurles technology park, four of which are based in the incubator InnovationWorks. These companies are involved in e-commerce, digital cinema, software development and health and safety. The customer services division of Cantrell and Cochrane also recently moved into a 5,000 sq. ft. unit, retaining 26 jobs in Thurles. Shannon Development has also initiated the establishment of a Thurles marketing group with representatives of Thurles Town Council, the Tipperary institute, Leader, the county enterprise board and Thurles Chamber of Commerce to promote the attractiveness of Thurles as an investment location.
The further development of the Tipperary technology park by Shannon Development will provide the focus for IDA Ireland's marketing effort in north County Tipperary. Through its strategic competitiveness programme, IDA Ireland is working with the existing base of companies in the mid-west region with a view to supporting them in broadening their activities in Ireland at a functional level. The objective is to deepen each company's embeddedness in Ireland through research and development, increased technology and by securing an European, Middle East and African or global mandate.
Although the primary focus on attracting foreign direct investment into the mid-west is on service related activity, manufacturing can still play an important role in the region as is evidenced by Taro Pharmaceutical's decision to locate in Roscrea. Shannon Development has acquired a 29 acre site in Roscrea to develop a business park. It is envisaged that the park will be attractive, because of its location adjacent to the N7 and to office, logistics and industrial enterprises. The main strategy behind the park is to capitalise on Roscrea's excellent central Ireland location for both foreign direct investment and indigenous industry or for companies that might wish to relocate to the less congested Shannon region. Planning permission has been received and external infrastructure works are in the process of being provided.
Shannon Development, in association with local authorities in the Shannon region, including north County Tipperary, is also spearheading the drive to bring high speed Internet access to towns in the region. Thurles, Nenagh, and Roscrea are scheduled as priority towns for phase two of the advanced broadband roll-out programme which should convey significant advantage on those towns, in terms of attracting foreign direct investment and indigenous industry.