This article is from page 4 of the 2011-10-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THOUSANDS of top-quality, high tech jobs could flow to Clare over the next decade following a new approach by the IDA which will see the M-18 marketed as a technology corridor.
This new approach will see Limerick, Shannon, Ennis and Galway marketed collectively as a place for investment for high tech foreign companies. According to the Western regional manager of the IDA, Jim Murren, this approach could have massive implications for Ennis and Shannon – as both will be seen as close enough to attract skilled employees from the large university populations in Limerick and Galway. The plan is conditional on the completion of the M-18 Gort to Galway bypass which would see a full motorway connection through Clare from Galway to Limerick.
“It is all about reaching a critical mass. The type of companies that the IDA are trying to attract to Ireland now are looking for critical mass and for the universities, the institutes of technology and the companies to be interacting with each other,” Mr Murren told The Clare People .
“When the M-18 is completed Limerick and Galway will be linked like never before. There is already a strategic alliance between the two universities and I would expect to see a lot of development along that corridor. This has happened before in other countries where you have seen individual towns located between two gateway locations benefit greatly from development. This is my ideal on the matter and how it could be developed.
“There is a lot of potential for somewhere like Ennis of this technology corridor become a reality. The companies would see Ennis as a place where they could recruit from both Limerick and Galway – and attract people from both ends of the talent pool.”
The completion of the M-18 is seen to be a critical step towards the creation of the western technology corridor. The BAM Balfour Beatty consortium were chosen as preferred bidders to complete the € 500,000 motorway but contracts drafted last year were never signed. The NRA is reportedly in contact with two groups in an effort to get the motorway back on track
“The final section of the motorway is very important. The completion of this would make a huge impact on the ability of people to commute and communicate between the two places. It is very very important. Road infrastructure in the places that we are competing with is taken as a given by investors. So we are at a serious disadvantage to begin with,” continued Mr Murren. “There is a herd instinct with these companies they want to be located close to other companies where the expertise is. So we could see an extension of the biomedical companies that have been such a success in Galway to other high technology companies.”