Kingdom bosses urge action to prevent bleak future

BUSINESS leaders in Kerry yesterday issued a strong wake-up call to address a crisis situation, following the loss of more than 2,000 manufacturing jobs in the county in the last five years.

These jobs have not been replaced and Kerry could become even more reliant on tourism for employment, warned IBEC regional director Adrian Beatty at the launch of a major business report by the confederation, titled Securing Kerry’s Future, in Killarney.

“We just cannot sit back and allow jobs to disappear, but our members don’t see evidence of action on the ground by the Government, State agencies, Oireachtas representatives and Kerry County Council. Someone has to take a leadership role and the business community is doing that now,” he told the Kerry IBEC annual general meeting.

Mr Beatty said Kerry’s textiles industry had been decimated, mainly due to global competition from low-cost countries, and Kerry had not attracted a major, greenfield foreign direct investment in five years.

The 43-page report offers 31 recommendations covering areas including the cost of operating business in Kerry, roads, railways, Kerry Airport, high rates, waste management and telecommunications.

“Foreign direct investment is not the panacea for Kerry, but the compelling feedback from our members was that much more must be done to promote Kerry as a location for sustainable, value-added business,” Mr Beatty said.

He said the lack of such investment had set Kerry apart from other areas of the country, which had benefited hugely from the presence of multinationals, adding “political will” was needed to market Kerry for this investment.

A major focus for Government and State agencies, he maintained, should be cost reduction in a number of areas, such as local authority rates, energy and insurance.

Rates in Kerry were among the highest in the country and employers were asking serious questions about the value for money of such “excessive” charges, he continued.

“A key message of this report is that Kerry County Council cannot continue to increase rates exponentially and expect manufacturing jobs to be retained in Kerry,” Mr Beatty said.

Tourism is now the single biggest employer in the county, worth €400 million annually, and Kerry is fourth behind Dublin, Cork and Galway in terms of income generated.

But, Mr Beatty said, there was an over-reliance on tourism and the jobs base should be broadened into manufacturing, hi-tech and food areas.

The importance of road and rail infrastructure was highlighted and IBEC regional president John Coffey, of Liebherr Container Cranes, Killarney, said upgrading the road network was identified as a top priority.

He said the roads to Cork and Limerick and onto Dublin were most critical, while a third priority was a ring road for Tralee.

The Macroom/Ballyvourney road was described as a key negative factor in attracting investment to Kerry.

Construction has been a massive growth area in Kerry, with almost 2,700 houses built in 2003, compared to 847 in 1993.

However, there are signs that construction may have peaked and a slowdown could have major implications for the 5,500 people currently employed in the industry.

“Even a 10% slowdown in construction will have a huge effect and a slowdown will inevitably come in this cyclical industry. In recent years, two houses have been built in Kerry for every increase of one in the population and one doesn’t have to be a genius to realise the implications of that,” said Kerry IBEC vice-president John O’Connor, of the Kerry Group.

Meanwhile, more pressure to take action is to be put on State agencies, Kerry County Council and Kerry Oireachtas representatives, who are to be given copies of the report.