Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 June 2012
293 Deputy Frank Feighan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the action he is taking in conjunction with the Industrial Development Agency Ireland to promote and market an Industrial Development Agency site in Roscommon town as a superb location for investment of manufacturing centre based on recent upgrade and investment in infrastructure, broadband and other services. [27118/12]
View answerThe provision of property and infrastructural solutions is a key element of IDA Ireland's offerings to potential investors to the regions. The strategy of developing and maintaining lands and property solutions in advance of securing new mobile investments has been a fundamental differentiator in IDA's marketing efforts with overseas clients.
I am informed by IDA that its Roscommon Business and Technology Park, which is located on Racecourse Road, extends to approximately 13 Ha, of which in the region of 7 Ha remains available for promotion. The Park is fully Masterplanned and is maintained to a Flagship Standard with on-going landscape maintenance contracts in place. The Park is available not only to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and investments made by indigenous industry supported by Enterprise Ireland, but is also potentially available to facilitate other investments and to act as a catalyst for employment generation in the region. Such investments need not necessarily be supported by either IDA or Enterprise Ireland.
There is intense and continual international competition to win FDI, which is mainly dominated by Metro City Regions with populations in excess of 1 million i.e. London, Manchester, Boston and Los Angeles. Ireland has one Metro Region, the Greater Dublin area. In order to achieve regional economic development, IDA focuses on marketing Gateway locations within each Region as the areas of critical mass and highlights the opportunities provided by Hub locations which are within commuting distances of these Gateways. IDA's Midlands Region consists of the counties of Roscommon, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois and Longford. With the improved infrastructure now in place, a significant number of people commute within the Midlands Region and IDA considers a project win in one Midlands town to have a positive impact on the other surrounding areas due to the close proximity of all main locations.
IDA also promotes Roscommon town to potential overseas investors through its network of overseas offices and in response to specific client requirements but, in the final analysis, it is the investor who decides in all cases where to locate.
Meanwhile, we must not lose sight of the fact that at present there are 900 people employed in IDA supported companies in County Roscommon.
