Midwest groups to draw up employment strategy

AN ECONOMIC strategy designed to chart the development of the midwest in the wake of the Dell redundancies is to be drawn up by Shannon Development, Forfás, and the Midwest Regional Authority.

The strategy comes in the wake of a submission to the Government from the Council for the West, a voluntary regional development body, calling for infrastructure investment in roads, railways, universal access to broadband and public transport.

The strategy, which is to have an input from the business community as well as local government, aims to guide the work of all agencies involved in job creation in the midwest over the next decade.

The strategy is in addition to the regional taskforce set up to attract employment to the region announced by the Government in the wake of the Dell job losses.

According to Liam Conneally, director of the authority, economic agencies are “willing and anxious to participate in a multi-agency response” to the situation facing the area.

Mr Conneally explained: “The loss of 1,900 jobs at the Limerick plant is extremely bad news for Limerick city but also for the midwest region and beyond, including businesses in Tipperary, Clare, north Cork and Kerry. In this regard, any Government response to the loss of jobs at Dell must take a regional approach.

“The strategy document will provide a policy platform for the region’s economic development over the next decade.”

The Council of the West called on the Government to extend the motorway programme to provide dual carriageways between regional hubs and gateways in addition to the radial network emanating from Dublin. It added that a dual carriageway from Gort to Derry and re-opening the western rail corridor were necessary.