This article is from page 6 of the 2008-02-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
CLARE has come near the bottom of a survey showing the number of IDA jobs created in a county by county basis last year.
Enterprise, trade and employment minister Micheal Martin confirmed that Clare came nineteenth on the hha
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment figures show that 22 jobs were created in IDA- backed companies last year.
The figures show that counties mainly located in the midlands trail Clare in the number of IDA jobs cre- ated. More IDA jobs were created in Clare than Carlow, Laois, Longford, Monaghan, Roscommon and north Tipperary.
Only nine IDA jobs were created in north Tippeary. However, Clare lags behind its two neighbours, Limerick and Galway.
The figures show that 264 IDA jobs were created in Limerick and 383 in Cr ELA
Last night, Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey said that the figures relating to Clare were matter for concern.
He said: “The IDA need to work to ensure Clare workers are not be- ing left behind in job creation terms. These figures, when examined, show cause for concern. For example,
counties with a similar sized popu- lation to ours are faring significantly better in terms of job creation.
“Waterford, Louth and Mayo, all have populations close in number to County Clare. Between them they created 674 jobs. In Clare, the IDA managed just 22. Cavan, which has half the population of County Clare, still managed to create three times more jobs.
He added: “Those statistics are not impressive, and as we move into a more uncertain economic climate, we need to focus our minds on ad- dressing the apparent job imbalance in the mid-west.”
The IDA has a strategy of regional development and 64 per cent of in- vestments in 2007 were located out- side of Dublin last year.
Also, the IDA played a strong role, in conjunction with Shannon Devel- opment, in securing 250 new jobs for the Shannon Free Zone with last week’s announcement that a medical services company, Zimmer, 1s to 1n- vest €50 million in Shannon.
However, the IDA has failed to date to secure an anchor tenant for the In- formation Age Park in Ennis.
The authority has the responsibility in securing foreign direct investment in Clare outside the Shannon Free Zone. But so far the park is home to indigenous start up companies.