What's driving Letterkenny's local economy?

0lordy

Anyone wondered about this? Letterkenny is a thriving town:

Plenty of new houses being built
Major retail chains and hotel coming to the town
Huge building developments all over the town
New car prices are much higher here than elsewhere (anecdotal evidence)
Thriving pub and restaurant businesses

Yet:
Donegal is the "poorest" county in Ireland
County with highest unemployment rate.
Few major employers in the town.
Some employment announcements in the pipeline, but this doesn't signify growth, just replacement of jobs lost in the past.

What's the story?

muffler

Letterkenny is probably the exception rather than the rule.

In relation to unemployment, new retail stores, new hotels etc etc I think you have to take the entire county as a single entity rather than select individual stronger links in an overall weak chain.

There are stats somewhere to back the claim that Donegal is a disadvantaged area.

Civilian_Target

Whats happening is that jobs are being lost in the Gaeltacht, but being gained in Letterkenny. Which essentially means that bits of North Donegal are slowly centralising into the town.

The setting up of call centres, and people like Prumerica, Zeus and Pharmacia, the expansion of LYIT, the increase in tourist trade and the increasing number of people that come and shop in the town (that used to shop in Derry) are all driving the economic growth.

komsomol

Its not just a Donegal thing, Its a Western Urbanisation thing.

Paddy20

Whats driving the Letterkenny economy?

Three words should do it, Corruption, Politics and Location. Or should that be only 2 words ?...

P. :cool:

Civilian_Target

Its not a western thing either. China's the best example of it happening anywhere...

0lordy

Yeah I get the urbanisation thing, but I would have expected greater economic growth in Letterkenny to sustain a growing population - I'm not aware of such growth:

Tourism - I really don't see Letterkenny as a centre for tourism in the smae way as Donegal Town seems to attract tourists Maybe LK as a base to see the county, but there's not too many tourists knocking about the town in the summer

Shopping: yes, but where does the money come from, if Donegal is the poorest county? Maybe folks in from Derry/Tyonre, but there's easily as many people going the opposite direction

Employment: not a whole pile of new jobs. Looks at the jobs websites and there's liitle happening I would guess that LK has lost more jobs than it has gained in the last few years (apart from the retail and hotel sectors)

I'm not complaining or making a big deal out of it, just wondering...

Farls

Civilian_Target wrote:

Its not a western thing either. China's the best example of it happening anywhere...

I think he could of meant the west of Ireland not the western world. I mean sligo, galway, limerick, cork are all booming.

I think Letterkenny just shows the real diversion in Donegal. Letterkenny might be booming but the rest of Donegal certainly isn't. It as though theres not many "in betweens" your either very rich or very poor and the very poor are a lot more plentiful.

I read somewhere a few years back the Letterkenny is the fastest growing town in europe? and its suppose to be looking for city status soon?

Since i've been up here in the last 4 years theres been so much change I can see this being true.

I'd agree with paddy also though, corruption in politics in this location is what gets jobs done in LK!

Civilian_Target

I wouldn't say theres a huge rich/poor divide in Letterkenny - sure, there's some very well off people but theres a lot of people in the middle ground - teachers, managers etc. with a maximum of 2 kids, a comfy job and a small mortgage who are quite well off.

Letterkenny used to be the fastest growing town - times have changed but its still growing by about 1,500 people a year. It'll be a long time before tis a city though.

As for the other points: the money for shopping comes from the Gaeltacht - yes, theres not a lot of wealth there, which is exactly why they come to shop in Letterkenny, Lidl's a lot cheaper than Jimi Mhici Jimi's Spar in Gweebackwater - so it's worth the journey. And tourism is booming in Letterkenny - a lot of Northerners coming through to Dunfanaghy stop in Letterkenny, and it's also used as a base for a lot of people going to see the Donegal countryside. Plus there's a lot of nightlife tourists - people who just come for a night on the town and stay in a B&B, very profitable business.

That said - Letterkenny is still a small town - and it's easier to get things done with corruption

JackG

Hi

I have connections with Letterkenny. The growth in the town is unreal. There is no other like sized town with the same facilities available. What is sustaining it...I don't have a clue. Not a bad town...i have no experience of the local politics. House prices are realistic. And now I read that there is a request fro planning permission for a 14m euro complex/retail/petrol station/gym/2000 person nightclub ........where's it all coming from ?

Civilian_Target

Yeah - I learnt to ignore local politics when I was living in Letterkenny because its basicly a law unto its own. And you're right - its a lot harder to get a job when you don't have nepotism on your side, but its still reasonably possible.

And you're right - a lot of Donegal Co. Council is a joke - but there are a few good guys in there - one guy I heard was "causing trouble", calling in the EPA on certain highly polluting factories in the county and actually performing his job - so they gave him the impossible task of locating the next dump.
And, much to everyone's surprise, he did it. Successfully.

JackG

I've been to mcginleys....not great most of the times......any other music pubs with reasonable music......i.e. live rock .....blues....

0lordy

I'm not convinced that the place is any more "corrupt" than other towns and cities.

I agree that politicians are needlessly intertwined with the planning process. I know this from personal and painful experience. Not necessarily in the brown envelope sense, but the "I'm your local councillor/TD/whatever and I'll sort this out for you" type thing. This is the same all over the country, without a doubt, so one can't single out Letterkenny for this.

I agree that the town planning and environmental management is, at face value, inept.

But you can't doubt that there is fantastic growth in the town, and my guess is that if it is backed up at all by some employment growth, then it should reach the critical mass required for sustained growth.

jimmeh

JackG

The Casbar on the main street has live rock/blues music most nights. located between dillions hotel/bar and magees chemist.

byte

jimmeh wrote:

JackG

The Casbar on the main street has live rock/blues music most nights. located between dillions hotel/bar and magees chemist.

Hmm, I might check that place out myself soon.

I'm only a newbie in Letterkenny so can't really comment on the local politics of the area but it's definitely a booming town.

But as previously said, I think there's corruption everywhere, not just LKY.

On an aside, where is this 14m complex going to be built?

jimmeh

I know theres a new development across from Dunnes stores, buts thats retail and a hotel from what I've heard.

Sure look at the development behind mcginley motors, massive retail units / flats and multistory car park, i dont know where all these shops are going to come from.

muffler

There has been a huge amount of developments over the last couple of years and the Town Council have taken in (or should have taken in) hundreds of thousands of euros in development charges but do you see this money being spent anywhere.
The roads, manhole covers etc are a disgrace.

Regarding the politics of the town. I dont really see it any better or worse than other towns around the country. in one way there may not be as much development if it were not for the efforts of the local councillors but again you have to look at who's who on both the Town Council and the County Council.

I recall 2 related instances in recent times. Firstly we had a situation one day where the County Council had a road (possible the Port bridge/Ramelton road) closed for up to an hour without notifying anyone. Yer man McEniff from the Mount Errigal hotel went on Highland radio and castigated evryone associated with the closure. from memory i think he was threatining legal action as people could not get to some function or meeting in his hotel.

Yet a few months before it his Fianna fail party colleague, Noel McGinley, closed a public road in the heart of Letterkenny for a week and there wasn't a cheep from McEniff and I think to this day McGinley has got off scott free.

LKLad

Agree with the comments re facilities, the new sports complex and arts centre will be major pluses.

http://www.macgabhannarchitects.ie/lac_page.htm

150 apartments going in beside the radisson, PJ doherty has plans for 250 off the high road..... wonder where the people are ... at least the plans are for very attractive buildings which is unlike a lot of the recent construction.

The new ramada encore hotel is under construction across from Dunnes.....it's essentially a Jury's Inn type place
see bottom of the link below
http://www.ramadaireland.com/hotel_list.htm


The rumours are that the Mc Ginley complex is in horrendous financial difficulty as PJ Doherty's new retail park(s) have snapped up all the decent tenants and have Dunnes and Homebase as anchors for the 15 acre section under construction with PC World, Pizza Hut, Carpetright etc
already signed up. Also the tax breaks for the Mc Gin car park is unlikely to work as PJ Doherty will be offering free car parking only 500m away.
That's a lot of money potentially down the drain. PJ Doherty has also bought the 3 acre site across from the Radisson - alongside supervalu/TK maxx, argos etc -on which he promises to construct a major "impact statement" for the town.....as long as it's something attractive and not another long line of shops I don't mind.

Re Jason Blacks new development. The building plan itself looks fantastic - similar to BOS on st Stephens green in Dublin. 4 levels of nice glass frontage with an attractive stone finish on the front of the 5th floor, in addition to the things mentioned above there's a drive through supermacs, 5 flood lit pitches on the roof - 3 of which can be converted into a full size, all of which are retractable into an outdoor concert venue for live music. The plans sound and look great, hopefully construction- due to start in Nov- will match it.

Still waiting on plans from the owners of Unifi for what they intend to do with the 70 acre site, likely to be divided up into industrial units + boutique hotel.

All in all pretty impressive stuff for a town that was dominated by Dillon Bros for so long! serious danger of the town becoming overshopped soon though with small operators on the main street losing out.....that's competition I suppose.

jimmeh

wheres jason blacks new development being located?


In relation to gigs in the casbar, i noticed posters for guns and roses tribute this weekend, ac/dc tribute on the 22nd followed by aslan the weekend after playing friday and saturday.

Civilian_Target

AC/DC tribute should be good - but Aslan are long-since deceased IMHO...

JackG

Appreciate all the information. As I mentioned before I've resided in a few towns in Ireland and Letterkenny seems to have it all compared to them. Helps I know alot of people there anyway. Will check out the casba next time I'm up.

A few more decent jobs around there and it should keep the buzz alive.

LKLad

The proposed complex is on the left hand side just before the council offices on the blayney road.

LKLad

I see PJ Doherty is shelving plans for his proposed 200 apartment + retail development on the High road and is putting the site up for sale "after reasessing the market" at an asking price of 12 million - he'll be lucky.

Basically he's copped on there aren't enough people to go round for all these apartments, most of the purpose built student apartments are lying empty, Mc Ginley's development is still without an anchor and is looking like a financial disaster for the builder, Gallaghers and Ramada opening soon- that's an extra 250 beds per night- which will put major presure on all operators...........I think the banks are beginning to pull in the reigns on what they're prepared to finance in the town.

23 acres of town centre zoned land now up for sale, another 4 when the bacon factory goes up in January.... but who wants to buy it and what can you build.... more empty office space? more empty apartments?

Methinks things may come to a grinding halt.

Glazun

Psh.. I don't know, the IT apparently makes 50million for the local economy each year.. or so they say anyway.. They've also been mass building estates, there's the solomen's court, hill, etc, etc, and then there's a new site beside it.. O_o it's a crazy urban sprawl.. a lot of the people come from new EU countries, etc. I mean, these day's it seems to be a common thing to walk into LK and see Polish people walking around. Anyway, Ireland's a country, based on Credit.. ¬_¬ no one's poor as long as the credit companies throw money at it.. meh, I don't know, I never really thought about how Letterkenny sustains itself.. I suppose they make money of all the shops around the place..