This article is from page 6 of the 2008-01-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
CLARE is bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown with a higher percentage losing their jobs here than in other areas.
Statistics released by the Small Firms Association last week showed that 3.5 per cent of all jobs lost in Ire- land last year were lost in Clare. This is despite the county only accounting for 2.5 per cent of the national popu- lation.
According to experts, this is as a re- sult of the county’s over-reliance on tradition low-skill areas such as con- struction, tourism and farming.
“We have a broad mixture of in- dustry in the county but we are more reliant on traditional industries in Clare and as a whole in the west of Ireland. There is that bit more di- versity on the east coast and that is why we need to keep attracting companies into the region that have a broader spectrum of sectors,” said Rita McInerney, CEO of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce.
“We have the location for this kind of development in Clare, like in the Shannon Free Zone and the Ennis In- formation Age Park. We have to try and attract more industry that will cover us Over the times when things like the construction industry taking a hit takes place. We don’t want to have all of our eggs in one basket on dene
A total of 714 redundancies were recorded in Clare in 2007. This plac-
es the county in sixth place nation- ally behind Dublin (10,844), Cork (2,/07), Limerick (1,250), Galway (1172) and Kildare (1,147).
In total, 25,459 redundancies were recorded nationally, with men ac- counting for some 61 per cent of all job losses.
‘We are also very dependent on the tourism industry in Clare. We need to diversify over the next few years to help off-let any downturn that might take place in these industries,’ con-
tinued Ms McInerney.
“We all knew that there would be a saturation point in the economic erowth. In fact, many economists thought it would come sooner.”
Meanwhile, further proof of the downturn in the local economy was seen last week with the release of the live register figures for Clare. They revealed a massive 165 per cent year- on-year increase in the number sign- ing on in Clare.
In December last year, 4,696 per-
sons were on the live register in the county, compared to just 4,073 during the corresponding period in pau ees
“We need to look at ways of up- skilling people who are in the tra- ditional industries which are being hit. This is where projects such as the One-Step-Up programme run by FAS will be so important,” contin- ued Ms McInerney.
“I do think that there is an area of renewal energy and waste manage- ment, the Green industries, which could be a very good fit for people who are coming out of the construc- tion sector.
“It could be a way for many local construction workers to diversify into this area. I think they would be seen as very complimentary industries to each other. It would go hand in hand with the construction industry.
“TI feel that this is not a total down- ward trend; it’s more of a levelling off. The next six months will be a time of consolidation and reorgani- sation before the economy can move forward again.
“As long as it is managed properly and businesses have time to think about where they are going in the future, then it will turn around and come good again. There is a chal- lenge here in the west in terms of get- ting over our over-reliance on con- struction and the tourism industry.”