The regional manager of the IDA, Jim Murrin, has revealed that the authority will offer investors five times more grant aid to locate in Mayo than in Dublin. However population and infrastructural deficiencies have hampered their efforts to strike deals with investors who show an interest in the west of Ireland, he told Castlebar Labour councillor Harry Barrett following a meeting to discuss the state of the IDA industrial park on the Breaffy Road, and the failure of the IDA to attract industry to the Castlebar area.
“I met with regional manager Mr Jim Murrin and relayed my concerns about the condition of the park and the complete lack of any investment in Castlebar by industries targeted by the IDA,” Cllr Barrett said. “Mr Murrin agreed that the park had been subject to recent vandalism and that action would be taken to rectify the situation, including the possibility of installing CCTV on the site.”
In relation to investment, Mr Murrin told the Labour councillor that the IDA was finding it very difficult to attract industry to the west, as foreign investors were attracted to centres of population, where the necessary road, rail, and broadband capabilities were highly developed.
"He remarked on the poor state of the N5 as a major drawback that was not up to investment standard, and agreed that investment in western counties must be front-loaded and extra incentives put in place to offset our developing road, rail, and broadband situation. He also agreed that this development should be the remit of a minister for regional development, as it is in other countries.”
