During the recent visit by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, Fine Gael TD for Wicklow Andrew Doyle was keen to showcase the various enterprise components that make Wicklow a very attractive place to do business.
L-R: Simon Harris TD, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD, Andrew Doyle TD , Graham O’Neill, Cllr Sarah Wray, Michelle Lambert and John Ryan.
Andrew Doyle TD commented, “Wicklow is a unique county, strategically located with a diverse market segment and needs to be recognised as a potential key diver in the economic growth of the country. Based in the greater Dublin Area which at times can be a disadvantage in terms of Foreign Direct Investment, but if we can look at exploiting our infrastructural capacity, the strategic locations that we have for inward investment, Wicklow can play an even greater role in job creation. Wicklow has a very active community enterprise element, epitomised by Business Enterprise Centres and a number of hard working and dedicated associations and agencies such as Wicklow Area Partnership, Wicklow Tourism, the various Chambers of Commerce, independent business associations and the recent announcement that Arklow will benefit from regional aid programme. The individual components are already in place to position Wicklow as the “Economic Hub.”
“One of the key factors in all of this is the Clermont Campus which has both the educational infrastructure and the uniqueness of having Wicklow’s Local Enterprise Office on site with Carlow Institute of Technology. This strategic placement is rare in terms of innovation and enterprise on a county level. The Campus has the land capacity, designated for education, research and innovation and the ambition from stakeholders to develop the site into a dedicated nerve centre for job creation in Wicklow.”
Minister Bruton, Simon Harris TD and Andrew Doyle TD visiting Arklow Business and Enterprise Centre
“It was very pleasing to note that both the Taoiseach and Minister Bruton got to see at first hand the level of innovation drive and ambition on their respective visits to Wicklow and the potential Clermont has for regional economic stimulus development that everyone can benefit from” added Deputy Doyle.
Meanwhile, the Government’s Construction 2020 Strategy aims to resurrect the construction sector in Wicklow and help get unemployed construction workers back on site.
Commenting on the strategy, Andrew Doyle, said, “Construction 2020 aims to provide homes for our people by tripling housing output by 2020 and adding 60,000 jobs to the construction sector over the same period. This comes on top of the announcement of a €200 million stimulus package for building projects across the country.”
“Wicklow will directly benefit from this stimulus as €50 million has been made available for social housing and an additional €5 million for childcare facilities and playgrounds. I’m also delighted to see that €5m has also been set aside to allow Special Olympics Ireland to consolidate their Dublin, Leinster and Eastern Region offices into a single new HQ office at the National Sports Campus, which will benefit all of Wicklow’s Special Olympics clubs”.
While there are signs of recovery and stabilisation in the construction sector, Deputy Doyle said that it is vital that we have a sustainable and viable construction in Wicklow.
Construction was one of the biggest employers in Wicklow during the last property bubble and when it burst it had a devastating effect on our local economy leaving highly skilled workers unemployed. We need a strong construction sector to support our economic recovery – nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of the construction and property boom. Construction 2020 has been designed to help both first time buyers and to get new housing construction under way again.”
“The housing bubble in 2006, saw over 93,000 houses built across the country, compared to just 8,301 built in 2013. Unlike the previous Government we now have a plan for the construction sector as it recovers and returns to growth over the coming years”, concluded Deputy Andrew Doyle.
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