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IDA criticised as Limerick region continues to lose out on jobs
LIMERICK must be made the "number one priority" of the IDA, according to Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, who has again criticised the agency's track record in the region.
At last week's launch of the IDA annual report for 2008, it was revealed that 8837 new IDA-backed jobs were created in Ireland last year – around 560 in Limerick and Shannon – but as the country slid into recession, around 10,000 jobs were lost. So far this year the IDA has helped create 2300 new jobs but lost 6,000, almost one third of these at Dell in Raheen.
Deputy O'Donnell has pointed out that a Forfas report on the impact of the Dell decision to stop manufacturing would "result in 9484 job losses in the Limerick region, far in excess of the 8837 new jobs created in the whole of the country last year by the IDA and not far off the total number of 10242 IDA-backed jobs in the Mid-West at the end of 2008".
"I welcome the fact that Intel in Shannon has announced 134 new high-end jobs with the help of the IDA and Shannon Development but there has been no significant announcement for Limerick in a year that started out with the worst possible news with job losses in Dell. I see that over 200 jobs have been created in Cork recently with the help of the IDA and 500 in Kildare. Galway and Dublin have also had positive announcements this year. It is clear that Limerick has not been given the same priority," said Deputy O'Donnell.
"The scale of job losses we face in Limerick is like no other region in the country and the Government must now ensure that the IDA prioritises this region for investment. I may at times criticise the IDA but that's because of the importance of the agency, which is why I wanted to see an IDA representative on the board of the Mid-West Jobs Task Force," Deputy O'Donnell said.
The TD has also called on the report of the jobs task force, currently with An Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, to be published, a call that was echoed yesterday by the chief executive of the task force, Dr Vincent Cunnane.
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