This article is from page 14 of the 2006-03-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE MAYOR of Shannon has warned that the economic boost expected from the decentralisation of 300 civil servants to the town may never materialise.
Fine Gael councillor, Tony Mulcahy, was commenting on recent revelations that there have been just 19 applications to move to Shannon out of 300 needed.
And business leaders are expressing concern that there has been no progress in getting Government workers to shift out of Dublin.
“If the Minister thought that thousands of civil servants were going to pack their bags and move just because that was what he wanted, then he needs to come out of the fog,” said Councillor Mulcahy.
“If this were to happen, as a local representative, of course I would welcome it,” he said.
“But as a businessman, I wouldn’t bet on it happening.
“I had grave doubts about this proposal from the start.”
Cllr Mulcahy said that Beau Walk Developments, the company behind the revamping of Shannon Town Centre “thought they had a whole unit let to Enterprise Ireland, but that was pulled out from under them.”
Chief Executive Officer of Shannon Chamber of Commerce, Triona McInerney said that local business people were beginning to wonder if they would ever reap the benefits that an injection of 300 new workers would bring to the area, with a population of 8,500.
Taking into account the civil servants families, it would mean an increase of more than 1,000 people in the region.
Should the move fall through, the CEO said, “I think there would be huge disappointment here from the business community and the community at large.