IDA slammed over Tipp visits

Tipperary Co Council has sought a meeting with the Industrial Development Authority following anger over the lack of IDA site visits to Tipperary.
At this week's meeting of the council, Cllr Jim Ryan (Ind) said he was “shocked” to learn that Tipperary had only five IDA visits in 2018 and six last year. Nationally, the authority responsible for attracting foreign direct investment made 1,148 site visits since 2018, almost half of which were in Dublin.
Cllr Ryan pointed out that Tipperary was receiving less than 1% of the IDA's national attention. “I think it's appalling,” he told the meeting. “In my opinion, it shows an anti-rural bias by this Government.”
He proposed that the council should organise a delegation to meet with the IDA “to see why they're ignoring Tipperary. What are we doing wrong?”
In support, Cllr Seamus Hanafin (FF) welcomed recent commentary in national media that Dublin is “at capacity”. While he agreed that it would be timely to meet with the IDA now, Cllr Hanafin said the council also needs to look at the facilities available in Tipperary and ensure the infrastructure is in place to attract investors, many of whom seem to favour existing buildings for setup.
Cllr Seán Ryan (FF) said the IDA has a poor track record on Tipperary, making only eight site visits in 2017. Cllr Pat English (WUAG) said Tipperary needs replacement industry for the number of jobs that have been lost but Government policy remains keeping jobs in the cities and forcing rural people to relocate.
Cllr Séamus Morris (Ind) was delighted with the realisation that Dublin is at capacity, saying something would have to be done about the amount of commuter traffic in the city, now standing at around 80,000 vehicles every day.
“If we cared about global warming, we'd cop ourselves on and stop Dublin growing at the rate is it growing at,” Cllr Morris said. He again took the opportunity to criticise Irish Water's plan to pipe Shannon water to the capital and East Midlands region, saying the proposed project would “give Dublin a competitive advantage forever” in terms of jobs creation.
“Draining Lough Derg and the Shannon to make Dublin grow; it's madness,” Cllr Morris exclaimed.
Cllr Michael Fitzgerald (FG) was not opposed to the creation of jobs in Dublin and other cities as long as it provided people with an alternative to emigration. Rural people moving to the cities or commuting to work is better than them having to move to the likes of Australia or Canada, he reasoned.
CEO Joe MacGrath said the council would write to the IDA regarding visits and investment. But he said the number of visits is not an accurate reflection of the level of engagement between the council and the authority. The council has had several discussions with the IDA, in which it has pointed out that Tipperary has the sites and criteria to attract investment – both from abroad and indigenously – and the council is prepared to do what is necessary to make these sites all the more atrtractive.
Mr MacGrath added that the council is always open to considering other sites that might serve an industry creation purpose.
He also mentioned that the council recently made a property portal available on its website.
The CEO highlighted Tipperary's geographic location, its availability of sites, proximity to third level institutions and a range of other factors. “We absolutely do believe that Tipperary is an attractive area for investment,” he said.