DURING AN event notable for its air of optimism and confidence at Kilkenny Castle, local entrepreneurs outlined their success stories to an audience which included officials from the American, Chinese and Indian embassies.
Speaking after the “Invest Kilkenny” event, the president of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce, John Purcell, was cheered by the success stories which were “in stark contrast to newspaper stories about Ireland losing its economic sovereignty”.
The local authority has established a new business support unit to promote investment from new and existing companies to stimulate job creation. The council also announced plans to establish a “world-class” technology research centre which is set to open next year.
Mayor Martin Brett said “Kilkenny has a great reputation and it’s time to put that to work”.
City and county manager Joe Crockett said he hoped the marketing initiative would help to attract companies especially in financial services, life sciences, business services, tourism and culture, agri-food and technology.
He said Kilkenny was “a cost-competitive location which has average business overheads of at least 15 per cent less than Dublin” and that it was benefiting from improved infrastructure.
Executives from existing local companies praised the city as a location for doing business. They included Brian Phelan, of Glanbia, who said the company, which employs 550 people in the county, is now “Europe’s biggest producer of mozzarella cheese” and exports to “50 countries on five continents”.
The 2009 Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Terry Clune cited the attractiveness of Kilkenny as a city in which to live as one of the reasons he established his financial services company Taxback.com there.
Taxback.com employs 700 people worldwide.
Tomm Moore, of the Cartoon Saloon animation film studio, said the company was now “doing a pilot project for Disney as a result of contacts made in LA during the Oscars” and such projects would help to create jobs and attract talented people from all over the world to come to Kilkenny.
A new website – investkilkenny.ie – has been launched to provide potential investors with a single point of contact “to access information on available enterprise supports and provide streamlined access to council services, such as planning, roads, water or environmental services”.
The website will also provide live information about cultural activities and links to residential and commercial property which is available for sale or rent.
Powered by Google’s Translator service, the website is simultaneously available in dozens of languages including Arabic, Hindi, Mandarin and Russian.
Dr Willie Donnelly, head of research at Waterford Institute of Technology, said “research and innovation can create new jobs for the southeast” and promote an “entrepreneurial environment”.
He said ideas generated by the Telecommunication Software and Systems Group had already “successfully created 14 start-up technology companies employing more than 60 people”.
He added that “continued investment in Ireland’s research infrastructure is essential to driving the smart economy, which offers the strongest prospects for economic recovery and a return to sustainable growth”.
