Max Powers wrote: » http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0130/ida.pdf IDA Stats showing the south east and Waterford fairing the worst out of all the regions
KevIRL wrote: » 800 head Sky Call Centre going to Dublin another massive kick in the teeth for Waterford. It was exactly the type of thing we needed - an in house centre.
hardybuck wrote: » The stats also show that Waterford has one of the largest amounts of jobs and companies which are supported by the IDA.
Psychedelic wrote: » How many new companies and jobs has the IDA got for Waterford since 2005? I can't even remember the last time the IDA made an announcement of a new company setting up here.
Psychedelic wrote: » @hardybuck, what I was getting at is that the IDA may be supporting the creation of new jobs in existing Waterford companies, and credit to them for that, but no new companies. The last announcement I remember was around 2006/07 when a company called Servier was to set up a purpose built site at Belview and bring a couple of hundred jobs. That seems to have gone off the radar though. Good point about agri businesses, this seems to be taking off in Waterford too, in Dunhill especially. Tourism/culture sector as well.
hardybuck wrote: » ...unfair to say Waterford has received a raw deal on the basis of the figures supplied.
Ballybrickenman wrote: » How anybody can say this is beyond me. Given Waterford’s population, the size of area it serves as an employment centre, the fact that one new company of significance has set up here in recent memory, Waterford’s infrastructure is as good if not better as anywhere else in the country and that our unemployment rate is 4% higher than the national average. Not to mention the fact that we have lost around two thousand jobs in the last couple of years. I don’t think it is unreasonable to say that we are overdue a new company (or two) setting up in Waterford and creating in the order of one thousand jobs (each) by about twenty years.
hardybuck wrote: » I know everyone here will be biased, but I disagree. The figures are for Waterford county, which has a small population in a national context. Smaller than Wexford up the road which has 60% less IDA supported companies. Kilkenny have 90% less supported companies (only 3!). Carlow 7 and South Tipp 9 compared to 31 in Waterford. Why does Waterford have to serve as an employment centre? Why should Waterford be entitled to jobs? Couldn't some of the above areas be trusted with the investment so their people could work in their own counties instead of commuting to Waterford or Dublin?The unemployment in Waterford is high because the people here got used to the idea that there would always be a factory for them to work in. Those days are gone. Our infastructure isn't fantastic - we have good roads, and a decent port, but no a tiny airport and a terrible rail service. If I'm a exec from the U.S coming over with a view to investing, chances are I couldn't be bothered driving for 2hrs after my 6 hour flight to Dublin or Shannon. Waterford people have poor participation levels at third level, and many of those that do participate do so at a mediocre local institution - WIT. I think Waterford needs to move away from this sense of entitlement. The numbers are there in black and white that the IDA investment in Waterford is massively ahead of every other county in the region, and the vast majority of other parts of the country.
Max Powers wrote: » First off, IDA supported companies..the recent jobs annonucement was from a company already in existence and the new 200 jobs came from gaining a contract, so the level of IDA support here is minimal. Notice the IDA FDI visits doesnt appear on the stats, we simply arent on the radar for FDI visits. I remember seen stats on that years ago. WHy is Waterford entitled to jobs, well we have several disadvanatges handed down to us by successive government; no Uni, little FDI visits, we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, a higher percentage than most involved in low paid works, low take up of Uni...and this all for what is meant to be the regional gateway and added to that you would think IDA would be priorotising an area with such problems. IDA will say to you that they cant force companies to set up here but, they have to start promoting us
hardybuck wrote: » That still doesn't change the fact that Waterford still has exactly as many IDA supported companies than every other county in the region added together! Do the people in other counties starve in the streets because the IDA didn't provide them with jobs?
hardybuck wrote: » I know everyone here will be biased, but I disagree. The figures are for Waterford county, which has a small population in a national context. Smaller than Wexford up the road which has 60% less IDA supported companies. Kilkenny have 90% less supported companies (only 3!). Carlow 7 and South Tipp 9 compared to 31 in Waterford. Why does Waterford have to serve as an employment centre? Why should Waterford be entitled to jobs? Couldn't some of the above areas be trusted with the investment so their people could work in their own counties instead of commuting to Waterford or Dublin?The unemployment in Waterford is high because the people here got used to the idea that there would always be a factory for them to work in. Those days are gone. Our infrastructure isn't fantastic - we have good roads, and a decent port, but no a tiny airport and a terrible rail service. If I'm a exec from the U.S coming over with a view to investing, chances are I couldn't be bothered driving for 2hrs after my 6 hour flight to Dublin or Shannon. Waterford people have poor participation levels at third level, and many of those that do participate do so at a mediocre local institution - WIT. I think Waterford needs to move away from this sense of entitlement. The numbers are there in black and white that the IDA investment in Waterford is massively ahead of every other county in the region, and the vast majority of other parts of the country.
Ballybrickenman wrote: » The facts of this report speak for themselves. Comparing Waterford and Wexford is not a fair comparison, Wexford does not have a large population centre that has been designated a gateway city by government. Comparing like with like, again from this report, Galway in 2011 had 58 IDA companies and lost 169 jobs, Waterford had 31 and lost 764 jobs. So clearly this is a raw deal. Galway has no Shannon airport, comparable infrastructure, no regional airport now, is further away from Dublin and a region with a smaller population. Why should Galway be entitled to be a jobs centre, could some of the companies not have been set up in Mayo or set up in Dublin or Shannon instead of executives having to drive to Galway? You are right that the unemployment is high in Waterford for factors other than IDA investment. For example we never really developed our tourism and retail industries to the extent we should have. And frankly what Waterford needs is to have a greater sense of entitlement, we are entitled to have anything any other city has and stop excepting the second class solutions to our problems from government, like the technical university to solve our of poor third level participation problem.
O Riain wrote: » Waterford is the hub of the south east, all the roads in the south east from south tipp, to kilkenny, to wexford to carlow, lead here. Do you honestly think everyone working in the IDA supported companies are all from Waterford? Its the most centrally located part of the south-east and the easiest to access as all the public transport systems in the south-east go to waterford. It was laid out in the action plan for the south east that the size of other towns is weakening Waterford Citys strength as a gateway city which is in turn causing the whole region to suffer. As for WIT being a mediocre institution, it might not be a UNI but it is the best I.T. in the country. Our infastructure is as good as would expect for the size of the city but an improved limerick road would probably benefit the city. Are you from Waterford you seem to hate the place.
hardybuck wrote: » Why does Waterford have to serve as an employment centre? Why should Waterford be entitled to jobs? Couldn't some of the above areas be trusted with the investment so their people could work in their own counties instead of commuting to Waterford or Dublin?The unemployment in Waterford is high because the people here got used to the idea that there would always be a factory for them to work in. Those days are gone.
hardybuck wrote: » First off, Wexford has a bigger population than Waterford. Just because it is more spread out doesn't mean that the companies couldn't be spread out in a similar fashion. If I was from Wexford I would be wondering why a smaller county had such a disproportionate amount of funding. Secondly Galway is an hour away from a transatlantic airport. We are not. Galway is also a far bigger county in size and population than Waterford. Their city is the provincial capital for Connaught in the same way as Cork is for Munster. They have an NUI University which was founded in 1845 as apposed to an RTC, which became an IT, and was put together in the 1970's. On WIT - regardless of what name you slap on it, it will still be a mediocre institution. A name change isn't going to solve any problems. Lastly, job creation will be generated by entrepreneurs a whole lot quicker than by politicans. Time that Waterford stopped whinging and started to examine what it can do for itself.
hardybuck wrote: » There is no denying that all roads lead to Waterford and all that jazz, but I'm merely pointing out the facts. We receive massively more support than all the others, and most other parts of the country. I don't like the attitude that it the Government's fault that Waterford isn't a huge industrial engine, or it is the Governments role to provide me with work. I grew up in Waterford and have a lot of time for the place, but accepted that the city offered limited options, and took my skills elsewhere. I'm always defending it to friends and colleagues. Only yesterday I had to challenge a colleague who didn't realise it was a city and not a large town, but in reality there really isn't a whole lot seperating Waterford and other large towns around the country at this point.
