A new €150 million e-business park that is expected to create 1,500 jobs in Shannon, Co Clare, was announced by the Taoiseach yesterday.
The Westpark development is expected to provide an additional one million sq ft in office space for the Shannon Free Zone.
Last year, a Limerick-based company, Concre Development Ltd, secured planning permission for the venture, which Clare County Council described "as a significant investment in Shannon's economic future as a high-tech location to compete on domestic and global scale with other high-profile sites such as Silicon Valley and City West in Dublin".
Located on a 38-acre site overlooking Shannon Airport, the Westpark development is made up of seven five-storey buildings, including a 100,000 sq ft data centre, and will form a further extension to the Shannon Free Zone, which currently accommodates 126 companies.
Speaking at a reception to announce the development in Dromoland Castle yesterday, Mr Ahern said that the Westpark plan "is an outstanding landmark development and is well placed to spur growth in the region and will act as an important pathway for many new companies and projects".
Mr Ahern said that work is to start on the Westpark development in the coming months and that the development "has the potential to increase industrial capacity of Shannon Airport by as much as 50 per cent".
Yesterday's announcement comes against the background of a net jobs loss in the Shannon Free Zone and indigenous companies in the Shannon region of 734 jobs in 2002.
Mr Brian O'Connell of Concre Development said that his company and partners in the project, Shannon Development, have developed the Westpark concept to cater for the next wave of businesses in the high tech, information technology and knowledge-based industries, and will phase the project in over 10 years.
He said that already his company has spent several million euro on the project and that the construction of Westpark Shannon will give employment to over 200 people.
In his address at the announcement, the chief executive of Shannon Development, Mr Kevin Thompstone, said that "the Westpark development will enable us to move to a new phase in our work of developing the Shannon Free Zone".
He added: "Shannon Development believes that knowledge, not money, is the key to competitive advantage and that successful regions must build their own capabilities for growth and development."
Mr Thompstone remarked that the development of Westpark "will give Shannon and the wider region a key competitive advantage in attracting foreign direct investment to the region, and it will enable Shannon Development to intensify its promotion of Shannon as a preferred location for international business".
Mr Thompstone added that "the Westpark development is an excellent example of the private and public sectors working together to put world-class facilities in place which are capable of attracting major global players to this region".
