Business environment in Louth has changed so much since 1980s when Senator Erin McGreehan was growing up

Introducing Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD last Wednesday Senator Erin McGreehan welcomed the fact that Dundalk and Louth was much changed economically from her childhood days.

”Thankfully, the place that I call home is a much different place to that, that I was born into the 80’s” said the Cooley Senator “it has benefited from the membership of the EU, it has reaped the rewards of the Good Friday Agreement, but this new era brings different challenges to business”.

Those difficulties she believed help Louth businesses meet the challenges of today, “because of our past, the resilience, the willingness to adapt, to be creative, to change, to grow is ingrained into the fabric of this region’s economy”.

She welcomed the Minister to Dundalk describing him as person who “understands bottom lines, he knows what it means for business. As a chartered accountant he knows how to create those efficiencies, how to create the environment for businesses to cut costs and grow.”

Thanking the Senator for her warm welcome Minister McGrath stated, “it’s great to be here with you all in Dundalk and to be here at a breakfast hosted by my good colleague and friend, Erin McGreehan. I’ve gotten to know Erin quite well over the last number of years. She is a passionate advocate for Dundalk, Louth and the border region and for all of the issues that need to be addressed in this area”.

“The last time I was here with you I was at a soccer match where my daughter was playing an under 12 National Cup match against Bellurgan and and I came up a couple of hours early and took the opportunity with Erin to see Cooley and Carlingford and to enjoy all the beautiful scenery and see it first-hand some of the issues that you’re seeking to address”.

Widening his remarks to the present economic climate he stated, “it’s undoubtedly the case that we have faced a number of economic shocks in the last number of years, but I think we’ve come through them in pretty good shape, relatively speaking, compared to many of our international peers, when it comes to Brexit, something you know all about here in this part of the island and that remains unsettled, but the indications now are much more positive.

“I think it’s fair to say that the recovery, broadly speaking, the Irish economy after COVID-19 was exceptionally strong and it is now one of the best performing economies in the European Union. And that’s for a whole range of reasons, not least the the diversity of the Irish economy from FDI, to the indigenous economy, to the ecosystem we have for entrepreneurs here in Ireland as well, but primarily it is down to our people and the resilience of our people and it’s down to SMEs all over the country, who are the real backbone of the Irish economy. Over 99% of businesses in Ireland are small or medium in size, at the end of day employ the majority of private sector workers in this country”.

“As a result of all of that we now have more people working in our country than at any point in our 100 year history, well over two and a half million people, we’re close to full employment, with just over 4% of unemployment”.

The Minister stated that Ireland was facing the same headwinds internationally that every other developed economy is facing such as the war in Ukraine and inflation at a 40 year high, but pointed, “the budget last September brought forward a whole range of measures, about €11 billion euro of new measures, which we were able to do, while at the same time having a significant budget surplus”.

Some of the temporary measures are due to wind up at the end of February, but the Minister outlined “they’re not going to the end in their entirety”

“We have to balance what is in the best interest of taxpayers, using public money wisely”.

He outlined many supports available in Louth and the border region, such as the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund, which is over a billion euro, Peace Plus which is another fund of well over a billion euro and which involves investment in the border companies, including Louth and the Six Counties to support peace and reconciliation and builds on previous schemes such as INTERREG and Peace IV.

“The Government, has introduced the Shared Island Initiative, that Tanaiste Michéal Martin spear-headed and follows a real commitment from the Irish government over the coming years to invest a billion euro in infrastructure that will enable the all island economy, that will build reconciliation and build shared infrastructure.”

“The classic example of that, of course is the Narrow Water Bridge and I’m delighted to see that that is now finally after many false dawns over a long number of years gone to tender. We look forward to seeing that progress over the period ahead”.

Foreign Direct Investment plays a key economic role in Louth, with IDA Ireland supporting 35 companies in the county that employ about 4,500 people.

“I’m really conscious of the need for continued investment in infrastructure, because in many respects, infrastructure is the great economic enabler and I know that the Dublin Belfast transport corridor is of such a critical importance to this region and we will be continuing to invest in that corridor in particular in relation to the rail network and infrastructure and building the capacity of the network in that regard as well”.

Outlining further projects in the Louth the Minister referenced an extension the north and south blocks at DkIT which is due for completion next year, work on the Dundalk Flood Relief Scheme undertaken by Louth County Council, and a residential care centre at St Oliver’s Hospital.

“We have the Long Walk Quarter Project which is funded by the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund (URDF)scheme, which is about the re-invigoration of the Long Walk establishing a new living and working quarter in the heart of the town which will see significant streetscape improvement as well as improvements to public spaces in the heart of the town, including the creation of a café culture and the incorporation of public art and the completion date is expected in quarter one of next year”.

“I also welcome the St. Nicholas Quarter regeneration project, again funded by the URDF and this will establish a new living and working quarter in the town and preparatory work for that particular scheme is continuing at the moment.”

Housing is a priority and in Mount Avenue, the Kitchen Garden, Hallidays Mills, Cathedral View, the Dublin Road project, the Racecourse, the Minister pointed to a sample of the projects that are either underway or in the pipeline to increase the state investment in direct housing provision.

In his closing remarks the Minister stated, “what we need to do as a government is to make sure that we can get through this period of high inflation, the high costs we are facing” adding “we have great strengths across the Irish economy”.

“Our population is growing, Ireland is an attractive place to come to live and work. That adds pressure to the accommodation situation and to the availability of public services, but it’s a good problem to have. It’s a far better problem to have than to have hundreds of thousands of people emigrating every year because of a lack of economic opportunity in this country”.

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