Paypal announcement imminent

M cebee wrote: »

damn misread this
i thought for a second the pope was resigning

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I thought this was all done and dusted and it was going to be Dundalk, does this mean that we still have a shot?

banjobongo wrote: »

just announced, the jobs are going to Dundalk, NOT Limerick....sigh.

Beer Baron wrote: »

People with no ties will flock to Dundalk chasing jobs so locals will have a battle on their hands.

campo wrote: »

Ah well on the positive side of things it looks like finally the country is picking back up and eventually Limerick is bound to get a jobs announcement , just have to keep the faith for a little while longer.

liammur wrote: »

I would prefer to see you in power, than ANY of those we have elected. That's the sad reality of the situation.

The likes of Noonan/O Dea, look at themselves, and say 'ah I've about 4 pensions and big lump sum to look forward, Limerick is fine'.

Kess73 wrote: »

There is the rub. The IDA have an awful record with regards Limerick.

Limerick does indeed have an airport nearby, but it is an airport that is being let waste away (which is a disgrace in my eyes) and it is an airport where there is a very real risk of it losing it's international airport status within a decade, and as such it is something that might encourage businesses to look elsewhere rather than set up near an airport that might lose a lot of it's air travel ability.

Limerick does have a lot of warehouse and empty plants, but a lot of them are not modernised and many do not have the capability of supporting a company that would be looking to do something on a large scale.

Limerick is also very low tech in terms of broadband, and lacks far behind some of the other cities in terms of the cabling etc that is in place.

What is also a huge problem is Limerick has always had too many people in power (be they politicians, city planners, city/county councillors etc) that have no track record at all of bringing in large numbers of jobs and who are much better at playing the parochial card in order to get into the paper rather than doing something that benefits the city.

Limerick is in serious trouble. A lot of people will stick their heads in the sand and just say things will improve or whatever, but the stark reality is that even during the boom Limerick had the highest % of unemployment in the country (Limerick had an 11% unemployment rate back then compared to a 5% national average) and has been a city that never really modernised beyond cosmetic street facelifts.

But we will continue to see our mayor come out and bluster about how the Parkway valley centre is what is killing Limerick desopite Limerick's history of unchecked high unemployment lasting decades with no major attempts to combat it.

Basically Limerick offers pretty much the same as what towns all over the country can offer, and offers less than what most of the other cities can offer.

campo wrote: »

I wonder how many of those people are long term unemployed I always felt that Limerick has a large percentage of people who just does not want to work for whatever reason

Kess73 wrote: »

No doubt there are plenty of long termers who don't ever want to work, but the 11% of the 90's and early 2000's is over 20% now so it means that there are a hell of a lot of people who want to work that get to stare at walls now.

The unemployment number for Limerick city and county is something like 23,000 people and growing. That is a shocking nunber when one looks at the population of Limerick in terms of people between 18 and 65. Even if we say that half of that is people that don't want to work, it still leaves 11,500 people scrambing whenever there is some tiny job announcement.

I did a lot of my growing up time in Liverpool and I saw first hand what it was like over there in the 1980's. Blackstuff/Boys From The Blackstuff (a brilliant watch for anyone who has not seen it) was very close to the truth.

Limerick has always reminded me of Liverpool, which is probably why I like Limerick despite it having so many things I dislike. I guess it has a familiar feel in many ways. But I do think that Limerick in 2012 is heading in the same direction that Liverpool was in 1984, and I do think that Limerick city needs a project as ambitious and of a similar scale to the Liverpool One project, and I mean that as much in terms of the commercial/industrial changes that project brought about as the retail and sevices changes. Limerick really does need that kind of massive change. The problem being that massive money would be required for such a thing, or rather to do it right and not have a half baked Opera centre idea.

I really think that Limerick should try and tempt Chinese investors and let them buy heavily into the city. Give them serious leeway and ensure that they get what they need ( legally and above board of course) in a fast efficient manner. I had a good look sometime back at some of what was proposed for Athlone under Chinese investment and I have to say it really caught my eye.