The fact that the IDA has invested significant money in buying a 45-acre site in Portlaoise is a clear signal that it wants to prioritise Laois, said Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney at the opening of The Cube in Portlaoise last week.
“If it wasn’t prioritising Laois, it would be buying land elsewhere.
“The whole point of strategic landholding is so that if suitable companies come along and want to locate in the midlands – and we are encouraging them to do that – we will have a landbank that will facilitate that,” he told journalists after the official opening of the building at Tower Hill.
“I would see this as a big positive, not a negative. What the IDA is doing at the moment is it is buying strategic landbanks in different parts of the country which is a signal that it wants to bring Foreign Direct Investment to those parts of the country.
“So the purchase of 45 acres is a signal that the IDA wants to prioritise Laois rather than anything else.
“Of course it wants to work with the local authority to put a proposition together that can hopefully attract Foreign Direct Investment to bring jobs to this part of the country,” Minister Coveney said.
“This is public money we are talking about. The IDA has to prioritise where it spends money purchasing land banks and it has chosen to prioritise Laois.
“If the IDA is buying strategic sites it also of course needs to have a plan to provide services to these sites.
“There will be a combination of the IDA looking to make good use of that land by getting Foreign Direct Investment interested in it.
“That is what it does and if that happens, then like so many other IDA sites, if we can get interest, we can look at getting funding for servicing the sites as well.
“We will have to work with the local authority and other facilities providers as well, whether it is Bord Gais, water, energy, sewerage, road infrastructure and so on.
“This starts with purchasing a strategic footprint and then you can start to market internationally. So we are at that first stage which is a signal that the IDA is now prioritising Portlaoise and Laois as a potential location for big projects at some stage in the future.”
Meanwhile at the official opening of The Cube, John Mulholland, chairperson of the board of Portlaoise Innovation Centre and chief executive of Laois County Council, said that the facility could be regarded as the first in a series of local rejuvenation projects, the primary purpose of which is to support enterprise, economic and cultural activity and living in the core town centre.
“While the principal aim of developing this centre, The Cube, is to assist the development of innovation and jobs in the low carbon economy, it is in reality about much more than that.
“It is about bringing once derelict and vacant buildings back to life. It is about bringing better confidence to a place and it is also about taking small steps on the road to a low carbon town and feeling our way towards a better approach to compact town centre development.”
The CEO expressed thanks to Enterprise Ireland in creating the regional enterprise development fund back in 2016, at a time, he said, when the country needed a shot in the arm to generate more employment.
The total grant approved by Enterprise Ireland was €2.26m and Laois County Council provided just over €512,000 as additional matched funding.
He recorded his gratitude to members of Laois County Council for backing the project at the time of the original application and ever since, Tom O’Connor, the previous owner of the building and all who had supported and worked on the initiative.
Every success was wished to Niamh Kavanagh and her team at FRS/WRK in taking up accommodation on the first floor and to the Midlands Just Transition teams and the Community Climate Action teams scheduled to take up residence at The Cube shortly.
The Council chief wished Caroline Hofman well, following her very recent appointment to the position of The Cube director.
A number of projects are currently underway at the heart of Portlaoise town, supported by the State under the urban regeneration development fund, the housing capital programme, Failte Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development with matched funding by Laois County Council, he said.
“The total estimated value of such public investment in our town centre currently lies upwards of €65m.
“The commuter car and bicycle park and housing scheme just over the boundary wall from The Cube will be completed by summer; the new county library will be open to the public in June; an outdoor performance area inside the old fort complex will be completed later this year and the old convent site will be transformed into housing, with construction due to commence this summer.
“In combination, this level of investment and buy-in by stakeholders from public and private sectors sets up a very welcome dynamic for the long-term vitality of our town centre.
“And The Cube will play a very pivotal role in keeping the momentum and confidence going that has been so much in evidence in recent times,” said the chief executive.
