The shocking revelation that four of the big multi-nationals in County Mayo are considering pulling out of the region due to the dire condition of our roads has provided the reality check that infrastructure is a top priority for the future success of the region. Coca Cola and Hollister in Ballina, Baxter in Castlebar, and Allergan in Westport are all massive employers in the area yet lumps and bumps in our roads are forcing management to consider exiting the market.
“The quality of the road is so poor that Baxter, which makes medical products, has to increase the quality of its packaging just so that its product will survive the journey to Dublin, which is costing the company an extra €400,000 a year,” Pat O’Donnell, MD of Allergan told the Sunday Times, which featured an in-depth report on the matter at the weekend. Warnings regarding the poor state of the N5 have continually issued over the years, resulting in only partial upgrades in select parts of the corridor closest to Dublin. Meanwhile, the Ballaghadereen to Longford stretch that the Mayo based companies must travel on remains a pock-marked danger zone.
Pat O’Donnell, also acting as spokesman for Coca Cola, Hollister, Baxter, and Allergan in their umbrella Mayo Industries Group recounted how management were left “embarrassed” by the condition of the road during visits by senior staff from international headquarters in America.
“When we get a company executive over from California, we put him in a car to Westport and by the time he gets to Ballaghadereen he’s looking out the window thinking he’s in a Third World country. We’re trying desperately to hold on to the jobs we have but to do that we have to convince our parent companies that Ireland is a good place to be. It makes it almost impossible to argue for any further investment here,” he said.
One year ago Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Transport Minister Noel Dempsey promised the matter would be addressed. Following ongoing inaction, the four multi-nationals have now warned they may begin cutting jobs if €220 million is not spent improving the N5 route of 134km from Longford through Roscommon to Mayo. Currently the companies employ 3,000 people directly and 6,000 more indirectly, and contribute €350 million in annual taxes to the Exchequer.
Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary TD, completely rejected the assertion that Ireland is a “Third World country” and said the N5 issue is “still a priority”, with the Mayo stretch towards the Ballaghadereen by-pass “now due to go to contract with construction work expected to start in late 2011”.
“This is one part that is moving,” he told the Mayo Advertiser. “After that there are difficulties because of the archaeological history of the area which is causing a lot of delays. We do want it to move as quickly as possible because none of us want the jobs lost. We are very proud of the companies we have here and we want to work to keep them expanding. We have invested significantly in infrastructure and this is the last bit of the jigsaw.”
He added that he will push for a meeting with the Taoiseach to raise the importance of the issue once more over the next few weeks, and using his 20:20 vision said he was certain the whole N5 and the N26 Ballina Road projects would be completed by 2020. “If not, we’re in serious trouble,” he said.
Hopefully the multi-nationals will be around that long too, for the cutting of the ribbon on the completed N5 corridor.
