This article is from page 4 of the 2006-07-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
EMPLOYMENT, Trade and Enterprise Minister, Micheal Martin, is expected in Shannon later this month to announce over 300 new jobs for the Shannon Free Zone, The Clare People has learned.
The jobs at US e-commerce firm Digital River follow last week’s announcement of 285 jobs for the free zone in existing companies, Halifax Insurance Ireland and SYKES Enterprises Inc.
A Shannon Development spokesperson confirmed that further significant job announcements “were expected in the near future for the Shannon Free Zone.”
Digital River is currently in temporary accommodation in the free zone. But the company, which builds and manages online businesses for more than 40,000 software manufacturers, distributors and online retailers, has already announced its presence in Shannon on its company Web site. The company is also establishing a European subsidiary in Luxembourg.
“The launch of our European subsidiaries represents an important part of our long-term strategy to extend our global footprint,” said Digital River’s CEO, Joel Ronning, in a statement on the Web site. The company’s senior vice-president of global operations, Tim McCauley said that Shannon Development had been very supportive and had provided “a favourable business climate for us to grow our international operations.”
The triple jobs coup by Shannon Development comes against the background of continuing uncertainty over its future. It is now almost one year since Minister Martin announced that the agency would be stripped of its enterprise functions in the Free Zone. These were to be transferred to the IDA. However, since then, no part of the new mandate has been implemented due to opposition from unions.
Senator Brendan Daly (FF) yesterday called on Minister Martin to allow the status quo remain in place and allow Shannon Development to continue to promote the Shannon Free Zone.
“You don’t change a winning team. The Digital River jobs and the announcements last week underline the success of Shannon Development and their hands-on approach is the secret of their success. It would be unwise to change that,” he said.
The body that is set to assume the enterprise functions for the Free Zone, the IDA has come under repeated criticism in the mid-west over its job creation record in the region in the recent past. Last year, the IDA failed to create any new jobs in new companies in the region. To date this year, the IDA has announced 124 new jobs at Vistakon in Limerick.