Many years ago a midlands politician pointed out that when a map was drawn indicating the closure of multinational companies that his region had suffered least, because it never had the companies in the first place. This is in sharp contrast to areas just a few miles away such as Kildare and Meath which have done relatively well in terms of overseas investment over the years.
Leinster is actually made up of a number of Ireland's economic sub-regions or parts of them. Its 13 counties take in part of the south-east region, the whole of the mid-east and midlands regions, and part of the Border region. And the economic fortunes of these sub-regions couldn't be more different.
The south-east, which is acknowledged by the IDA as not having been as successful as it should have been in attracting overseas investment, has been largely dependent on tourism, leisure, and agriculture over the years.
In the midlands the ESB and Bord na Mona were long the mainstay employers along with agriculture and the state sector. In the Border region agriculture was long the dominant economic force while the mid east and Dublin areas attracted the majority of industrial and internationally traded services investments.
However, in recent years things have begun to change. Perhaps the most significant investment in the Border area in the past 30 years was the decision by Xerox to develop a new manufacturing campus in Dundalk. The campus consists of facilities for the manufacture and assembly of advanced photocopier systems and components including colour toner.
Prior to the recent technology downturn it was hoped that employment would reach 3,500 over the next five years. While this target may not be reached Xerox has still become one of the most significant employers in the Border region.
Longford received a significant boost late last year with the announcement that Cardinal Health Inc of the US is to invest more than £100 million in the establishment of a campus-style European manufacturing and information technology centre at Longford town. The IDA Ireland backed investment will involve the construction of five separate buildings totalling over 400,000 sq ft in area over the next five years. The new campus is expected to employ 1,300 people at full production. This investment followed another by Lacemount, a company engaged in the manufacture of specialist bread for the home and UK markets.
Indigenous industry in the Leinster area also received a boost earlier this year with the launch of Enterprise Ireland's regional strategy which will see significantly greater levels of support being given to companies in the objective one regions of the Border, midlands and west, while the remainder of Leinster is classified as Objective One in Transition and will thus qualify for higher levels of support than Dublin-based enterprises.
While these projects and others like them are clearly delivering additional jobs and economic activity in the province, there is an increasing trend towards long distance commuting to Dublin with new housing developments being constructed near towns such as Carlow, Portlaoise, Kinnegad, Trim, and Mullingar with the aim of facilitating such commuters. However, with traffic conditions worsening and commuting times lengthening the idea of spending two hours in a car every morning just getting to work is not very appealing.
The new Millennium Park office park development near Naas, Co Kildare is aimed at alleviating this problem. The 200-acre park is aimed at attracting internationally traded service investments in areas such as software development, technical support, banking and so on. Already six units totally 180,000 sq ft have been built and three are pre-let. Planning permission is expected shortly for a further two 30,000 sq ft units and planning permission will be sought later in the year for a 230,000 sq ft commercial centre comprising cinemas, restaurants, convenience stores, creches and so on.
"The Millennium Park is just 15 minutes from Newlands Cross and some 100,000 people pass it each day on the M7 and the Arrow train from Sallins," says Michael Mullally, a former IDA executive and now chief executive of the Millennium Park.
"We are addressing the commuting issue with a commonsense solution. People from areas such as Portlaoise, Carlow and Athy who are currently commuting to Dublin would find the Millennium Park a very convenient place to work. We have a database of 10,000 CVs of people who would wish to work here.
"This has been compiled for us by two human resources firms and shows the need for developments such as this. We are also providing the infrastructure in terms of the commercial centre to ensure that it is not only a convenient place to work but an attractive one as well. This is vitally important in terms of retaining staff these days.
"I think a necklace of developments such as this on the periphery of the greater Dublin area would be of great assistance in curing congestion and allowing people to avail of more affordable housing in the surrounding counties while commuting to these facilities."
He points out that a location further out may not suit many companies. "Many companies need access to Dublin airport and the other facilities such as the universities that the city can provide," he says. "Locations such as the Millennium Park offer them this access but also offer staff the opportunity to live outside of Dublin and still be close to their workplace." Companies such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard have already seen the attractions of Kildare as a location and employ almost 8,000 people between them in the county.
While Dublin dominates the region economically, it looks as if a greater balance will be achieved in the coming years, particularly with the rapidly improving road and rail infrastructure bringing counties such as Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly and Longford closer to the city and its facilities and consequently making them more attractive to investors.
