Development

Sleepy · 01-05-2014 11:26AM

murphaph wrote: »

We're trying to attract skilled jobs, not assembly line work that anyone can do.

Just to expand on this: we'd love to attracted unskilled or low-skilled assembly line jobs but it's simply not possible in the modern, globalized world. Our cost base (property, energy, labour) is just too high to compete with lower-cost economies in Eastern Europe or the developing world.

IMO, this is the single greatest economic problem facing Ireland: how can we provide enough employment for the low skilled?

nice_guy80 · 01-05-2014 03:00PM

Sleepy wrote: »

Just to expand on this: we'd love to attracted unskilled or low-skilled assembly line jobs but it's simply not possible in the modern, globalized world. Our cost base (property, energy, labour) is just too high to compete with lower-cost economies in Eastern Europe or the developing world.

IMO, this is the single greatest economic problem facing Ireland: how can we provide enough employment for the low skilled?

services to the big multi national companies
tourism jobs
agri-industry jobs

chopper6 · 01-05-2014 03:05PM

Sleepy wrote: »

IMO, this is the single greatest economic problem facing Ireland: how can we provide enough employment for the low skilled?

There's plenty of work for the "low skilled"...it's just welfare rates are so high it's not worth thier while and it'd usually done by foreigners.

Potatoeman · 01-05-2014 03:39PM

wetdarknight2 wrote: »

If the American company is only going to employ 100 or 200 then no problem. People can move there easily. No traffic and cheap housing. Was there not a time the IDA positively discriminated towards disadvantaged areas, and located industries there? Now all the new jobs seem to go to Dublin. Maybe a compromise would work well, if new industries were located near places like Waterford, Galway, Limerick, Athlone?

A young family might consider it but a young single professional wont want to live in rural Ireland and if they have other options its even less likely.

wetdarknight2 · 01-05-2014 10:56PM

Potatoeman wrote: »

A young family might consider it but a young single professional wont want to live in rural Ireland

They should be happy to live where they get work, and some people do not want to live in Dublin city because of the cost of housing there, traffic, high property taxes, high commuting times, high crime etc. Some people find a high quality of life in other parts of the country, where they can be closer to the outdoors etc. There are many successful employers and employees outside of Dublin.

02-05-2014 09:38AM

I think people forget that Dublin is not everything and despite what people think there are multinationals in Donegal and other parts of Ireland. I was getting at the point that its a complex problem and it cant be solved by government and my other point is politics, local election candidates blaming the government for lack of focuses on their area parish pump politics, I often wonder do some of them take the electorate to be thick and lacking in understand of issues.

hfallada · 02-05-2014 09:41AM

wetdarknight2 wrote: »

They should be happy to live where they get work, and some people do not want to live in Dublin city because of the cost of housing there, traffic, high property taxes, high commuting times, high crime etc. Some people find a high quality of life in other parts of the country, where they can be closer to the outdoors etc. There are many successful employers and employees outside of Dublin.

But they wont. In America firms in underdeveloped rural states where there is a gas/oil boom, have to pay employees twice the normal wage. As people dont want to live in the middle of no where just because they have a job. I know i would happily be broke and living in Dublin. Than with a lot of money living in a farm village an hour from any thing that resembles a city.

All your supposed issues with Dublin can be resolved living in a right area of the city. Yes Dublin is far more expensive than everywhere in Ireland. But is the quality of living better in a cheaper place like West Cork, where there is little services and no amenities? There is very few successful companies outside of Dublin, Galway and Cork.

We can throw a ton of money building roads to no where to have a factory for a few hundred people or the government can give Dublin the services it needs like transport. Selling rural Ireland is going to be very hard to a non-national coming from a massive city.

02-05-2014 10:09AM

hfallada wrote: »

But they wont. In America firms in underdeveloped rural states where there is a gas/oil boom, have to pay employees twice the normal wage. As people dont want to live in the middle of no where just because they have a job. I know i would happily be broke and living in Dublin. Than with a lot of money living in a farm village an hour from any thing that resembles a city.

All your supposed issues with Dublin can be resolved living in a right area of the city. Yes Dublin is far more expensive than everywhere in Ireland. But is the quality of living better in a cheaper place like West Cork, where there is little services and no amenities? There is very few successful companies outside of Dublin, Galway and Cork.

We can throw a ton of money building roads to no where to have a factory for a few hundred people or the government can give Dublin the services it needs like transport. Selling rural Ireland is going to be very hard to a non-national coming from a massive city.

First off it is not true that there are few successful company's outside of the cities and second of all quality of life is a subjective thing, just because you rave about living in Dublin, does not mean everyone wants to live in an urban area.

Sand · 02-05-2014 06:37PM

mariaalice wrote: »

I think people forget that Dublin is not everything and despite what people think there are multinationals in Donegal and other parts of Ireland. I was getting at the point that its a complex problem and it cant be solved by government and my other point is politics, local election candidates blaming the government for lack of focuses on their area parish pump politics, I often wonder do some of them take the electorate to be thick and lacking in understand of issues.

No one denies there that there is investment or employment outside the greater Dublin area, and no one denies there is trade-offs to be considered between rural and urban living, with different people making different choices.

It is just the greater Dublin area (and Cork for certain industries) has far greater critical mass when it comes to attracting more investment - it is easier to provide infrastructure, young people with skills want to live there and there is already many, many employers and amenities in place.

What's odd to me is some people seem to want all the advantages of living in a rural area, whilst also being heavily subsidised so they get all the employment opportunities and infrastructure as if they were living in the heart of a major city. That just isn't possible.

wetdarknight2 · 02-05-2014 11:52PM

hfallada wrote: »

Yes Dublin is far more expensive than everywhere in Ireland.

So companies who locate in say the 8 or ten biggest urban centres in the country - say towns / cities with an I.T. / Institute of technology - find they are successful because employees money there goes much further. Commuting to work is easier / less stressful. People in to sustainable living / outdoor sports / surfing / hill walking / mountain biking / walking on unspoilt beach etc can often indulge their passions....while living next to city amenities.
Sure Dublin is very expensive, bringing industry to Dublin will only widen the gap between Dublin and the rest, not narrow it.

09-05-2014 01:26AM

Godge wrote: »

Dream on, take a climate similar to Donegal, say North Antrim, whoops, no Giant's Causeway or Glens or distilleries. Of course if you want to visit distilleries, go to Scotland.

Donegal in winter is probably like Iceland in summer, but Iceland has volcanoes.

Yes. go to Scotland if you want to see distilleries. Unlike any of those in Ireland you will actually be allowed in to see the whole process.

But, you obviously have never been to Donegal. North Antrim or Iceland either judging by those comparisons.

Just one example, there are more Glens in Donegal than Antrim.

chopper6 · 09-05-2014 09:43AM

323 wrote: »

Yes. go to Scotland if you want to see distilleries. Unlike any of those in Ireland you will actually be allowed in to see the whole process.

But, you obviously have never been to Donegal. North Antrim or Iceland either judging by those comparisons.

Just one example, there are more Glens in Donegal than Antrim.

Could you find a pic of a sunny day?

murphaph · 09-05-2014 11:57AM

chopper6 wrote: »

Could you find a pic of a sunny day?

Sure don't you know Dublin stole all Donegal's sun. Feckin Jackeens :pac:

chopper6 · 09-05-2014 12:02PM

murphaph wrote: »

Sure don't you know Dublin stole all Donegal's sun. Feckin Jackeens :pac:

Well they stole all our money!

GCU Flexible Demeanour · 10-05-2014 12:17PM

Sleepy wrote: »

Personally, I like Donegal. <....> as supported by the CSO stats above, consecutive governments have done as much as they can do for Donegal, arguably more than they should have.

The IDA can't convince MNC's to locate in rural areas or towns in counties with extremely low population density. Donegal's best hope for employment is for it's own residents to create it: they're as entitled to Enterprise Ireland or Local Enterprise Board supports as any other budding entrepreneur is.

I think this is precisely the kind of point that we need to see more of.

I'm not sure that rural advocates appreciate quite how divisive their arguments can be, when they are centred on this belief that someone is consciously doing them down - and when they included this perverse view that there's a transfer of finances to urban areas, when the reverse is true.

What's stopping hotels in Donegal getting together and promoting themselves to a new market? Or if tourism actually doesn't have the potential that people think, what other products or services could they develop?

We can be a little sceptical of IE and local enterprise boards. If being cyncial, we can ask "If they knew how to set up a successful enterprise, why did they end up working for the State?" But that's not really the point. The point is that someone with a business idea does have a port of call to help them along the way if they really have no clue as to how to develop it.

And, yeah, I'm sure that there's no business idea you could have in Donegal that wouldn't work better in Galway City. But, sure, isn't that the problem that no-one can change.

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