This article is from page 5 of the 2011-03-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 5 JPG
THE Queen of England, Michael Flatley and Barack Obama can play their part in Clare becoming the first county in Ireland to drag its way out of recession.
That was the message delivered by the Ennis Development Forum this Monday as it kickstarted its campaign for the county’s economic recovery by holding face-to-face talks with Clare’s newly elected TDs.
Retaining existing jobs, moulding Clare as a low-carbon county, revitalising the construction industry and cashing in on the county tourism potential emerged as the key tenets the forum’s policy going forward, with the county’s TDs pledging to play their part in the process.
“This is the start,” Aoife Madden of the Ennis Development Forum told The Clare People. “We believe that Ennis and Clare can come out of recession.
“Businesses can play their part in that, so can politicians and we are determined to make it happen.
“We have to look at a lot of things. There was general recognition of the need to support local businesses in order to support local jobs.
“Minister of State for Small Business John Perry has been briefed on our concerns and we want him down in Ennis for formal discussions on the financial and red-tape challenges being faced by small and medium enterprises.
“It was also recognised that Clare must exploit it’s tourism potential through expanding the demand for what we currently have to offer by fully utilising Shannon Airport as a facility and the development of Ennis as a National Centre of Welcome and the creation of a Triangle of Clare Tours.
“Clare could generate significant marketing spin-off from events like the Lord of the Dance at the Cliffs of Moher, the Royal Visit, the London 2012 Olympics and the visit of President Obama,” added Ms Madden.
Clare’s four TDs, Fine Gael’s Pat Breen and Joe Carey, Labour’s Michael McNamara and Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley have pledged to meeting with business representatives on a quarterly basis to discuss progress on these actions, with the next meeting scheduled for Monday, June 13.