Jobs Minister Mr Richard Bruton (FG) is expected to announce 200 new jobs for Clonmel, Co. Tipperary today. These new employment places are to be created by Eishtec, an outsourced contact centre based in Co Waterford and first established in 2011 to provide tailored solutions to business. This company now intend to establish of a custom built centre in Ard Gaoithe, in Clonmel. Recruitment is understood to begin immediately.
While this announcement is most welcome, earlier similar job pronouncements for Co. Tipperary over the past number of weeks, e.g. 300 new jobs long term at US generic drugs giant Amneal Pharmaceuticals; 152 jobs at ABP Food Group etc, have born little fruit to-date.
While unemployment figures for August 2015, (published by the CSO on September 5th, 2015) appear to show a drop for the first time in persons unemployed in Co. Tipperary, one cannot help wondering how much of this sudden drop is reflected in real job creation within the county.
When unemployment figures are viewed over a period of the past eight months; these same statistics do not make for exhilarating reading.
Unemployment figures for Co. Tipperary over the first 8 months of 2015
North Tipperary and Associated Towns – 2015
—Jan — Feb — Mar —- April — May — June — July —- Aug —–Town/Region
6,312 – 6,237 – 6,139 – 6,030 – 6,199 – 6,462 – 6,601 – 6,475. North Tipperary – [Increase = 163 persons].
2,568 – 2,497 – 2,465 – 2,446 – 2,529 – 2,635 – 2,658 – 2,589. Nenagh – [Increase = 21 persons].
1,166 – 1,168 – 1,138 – 1,119 – 1,164 – 1,187 – 1,246 – 1,213. Roscrea – [Increase = 47 persons].
2,578 – 2,572 – 2,536 – 2,465 – 2,506 – 2,640 – 2,697 – 2,673. Thurles – [Increase = 95 persons].South Tipperary and Associated Towns – 2015
—Jan — Feb — Mar —- April — May — June — July —- Aug —– Town/Region
7,864 – 7,786 – 7,681 – 7,595 – 7,809 – 7,998 – 8,110 – 7,957. South Tipperary – [Increase = 93 persons].
1,129 – 1,120 – 1,096 – 1,071 – 1,094 – 1,145 – 1,164 – 1,128. Cahir – [Decrease = 1 person].
1,685 – 1,674 – 1,650 – 1,625 – 1,663 – 1,697 – 1,719 – 1,688. Carrick-On-Suir – [Increase = 3 persons].
1,060 – 1,035 – 1,015 – 998 – 1,017 – 1,025 – 1,063 – 1,035. Cashel – [Decrease = 25 persons].
2,480 – 2,489 – 2,464 – 2,470 – 2,562 – 2,611 – 2,616 – 2,586. Clonmel – [Increase = 106 persons].
1,510 – 1,468 – 1,456 – 1,473 – 1,431 – 1,520 – 1,548 – 1,520. Tipperary (Town) – [Increase = 10 persons].
Current reigning Tipperary politicians will shortly be demanding our votes, based of their ‘vast experience’ and ‘proven competence’. The Tipperary electorate and particularly Thurles voters, on the other hand, will be waiting with ‘bated breath’.
The figures above might waken them up, or do they need an injection.
http://tippfm.com/news/news_detail/ida_admits_lack_of_job_creation_in_north_tipperary
“At this morning’s meeting representatives from the IDA outlined the difficulties they face in attracting FDI to parts of North Tipperary due to a lack of infrastructure and suitable premises”
Complete B… S… (excuse my language)
Apart from not having a connection to the natural gas network in Thurles (neither do other large towns in Tralee, Sligo, Dungarvan, and Letterkenny but they can get FDI), I don’t see any infrastructural advantages small towns like Cashel and Carrick on Suir have, that the larger towns (Thurles and Nenagh) don’t have.
Both towns are very close to the M7/M8 motorways and are connected to other major town via the N52/N62 national roads.
Thurles has two third level institutions. LIT (the only campus in Ireland that specialises in software engineering and games design yet jobs in this industry went to Cork) and St Patrick’s College/UL
Thurles benefits from high-speed cable broadband 240mb (500mb for businesses) both Cashel and Carrick have VDSL 100mb
Thurles railway station is one of the busiest stations in the country with a very fast/reliable hourly train service to Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
Nenagh has an hourly bus service to Limerick and Dublin.
Nenagh is just 27km (18 miles) from Limerick City by motorway.
Thurles (town centre) is 152km (95 miles) from Dublin City Centre
Nenagh (town centre) is 162km (101 miles) from Dublin City Centre
Cashel is 167 (103 miles) from Dublin City Centre.
As for the lack of suitable premises in the town, Thurles had a large industrial estate that Shannon Development (more like Limerick and Clare Development) sold off during the Celtic tiger era. Why weren’t these units renovated and rented out? Going into the 2002 general election they (the IDA) promised us that a medical device company would replace the GMX. The BSN medical (Jobst) unit in Archerstown is still empty.