The work of attracting new foreign investment to towns across the Objective 1 region is not something that can happen in the short term, according to the IDA's new area director for the Border region, Mr Frank Conlon.
Mr Conlon has recently taken up the post as part of the IDA restructuring, which has seen the merging of the north-west and north-east regions into the Border region. A new headquarters is being opened in Cavan and additional staff have been employed.
He said the IDA had given the commitment to get 50 per cent of all new greenfield investment in the State into the 13-county Objective 1 area over the next three years. "This is a mediumterm strategy and we have to tailor expectations. We cannot expect decisions on this tomorrow morning. That is not part of the process, there have to be lead-in times," he added.
As part of the new strategy, advance factories and office buildings are being built across the region. This process is still in the initial stages in Carrick-on-Shannon, where the IDA has a site, and planning permission has now been granted for a 22,000 sq ft advance factory. Mr Conlon said there was no start date yet for the factory, as the next step was to hold discussions with private developers and get costings.
He said prospective investors were visiting the entire region, as there were also advance factories completed in Sligo and Letterkenny. Once clients knew that planning permission was granted for the Carrick-on-Shannon plant, they would know that it was definitely going to go ahead.
Accessibility, he said, was the key to attracting investors into the northwest.