'Our towns need serious investment': Tralee faces serious challenge due to pandemic

Provincial towns face significant challenges due to Covid-19. Aisling Kiernan examines how Tralee is responding to the pandemic.

The Mall St in Tralee, Co Kerry, the main shopping area of the town. Picture: Domnick Walsh

Encouraging businesses to provincial towns, attracting the skilled workforce needed, and maintaining the vibrancy of town centres are just some of the challenges that counties across Ireland have been endeavouring to address in recent times.  

In Munster, the situation is no different and, in many ways, these challenges have been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in counties where there has been a high dependency on tourism.

In Kerry, 22% of the workforce is employed in the tourism sector which was “wiped out” by the pandemic; retail accounts for 14% of the county’s jobs.

In Tralee, where the retail sector was thriving, Debenhams and Mothercare pulled out and BorgWarner announced recently that 200 jobs would go at the plant.

The pressure is now on Tralee and other provincial towns to attract new industry and create a town centre that will encourage young, skilled workers to live and work there.

Ken Tobin, CEO, Tralee Chamber of Commerce, says towns such as Tralee are no longer attracting the jobs that they once did.

“Our towns just aren’t at the races and they need serious investment and serious improvement," said Mr Tobin.

"Larger cities and locations across the county have drawn the bulk of jobs whether that be foreign direct investment (FDI) through the IDA or growing indigenous jobs.

“From January, Tralee will have a university but one of the biggest difficulties we have had over the last few years has been retaining students from the ITs in our towns.

“Tralee has almost become an exporter of skills; our students are getting very well educated here but they are leaving for the larger cities to get jobs.” 

In the wake of BorgWarner's announcement, Terry O’Brien, Mayor of Tralee, said there is a need now to focus on indigenous industry because it has become very difficult for Ireland, from a manufacturing perspective, to compete with China and India.

"Tralee is a town that has worked hard on itself and we are currently developing a greenway from Tralee to Fenagh; we have also secured funding for additional pedestrianisation in the town centre,” said Mr O'Brien, before saying the announcement from BorgWarner did “come as a blow”.

Mayor of Tralee, Terry O'Brien, with local business man Peter Harty, of CH Chemist, on the Mall St. Picture: Domnick Walsh

“We need to focus on indigenous industry and Covid-19 has proven how strong Kerry is as a tourism product.” 

Calls to set up a jobs taskforce for Kerry have also been made. Support has come from Kerry County Council and it is anticipated that the taskforce will be up and running by September. Its focus will be on job retention and job creation in the county.

The loss of significant retail outlets including Debenhams and Mothercare has added further challenges for towns such as Tralee.

Peter Harty is the director of CH Chemist, a family business that was established in 1968. He told the Irish Examiner that businesses such as theirs have had to reinvest and change how they do things in response to the pandemic.

“We think the future of the business will include a mixture of retail and online and we are trying to develop and evolve the business so that we can cater for all our customers’ needs and to ensure that shopping is as safe as possible for everyone," said Mr Harty.

“Retail has to remain relevant and provide customers with what they want; every business is trying to do that now.

“We need to work together and ensure that the retail mix is right for everyone, particularly around our town centres.” 

The premises was renovated in 2019 and the company expanded, allowing them to become more competitive, and when the pandemic struck management was able to allow for social distancing in the store.

“Like all businesses, Covid-19 has had its challenges but we were fortunate in the sense that the pharmacy was deemed an essential business and we were able to continue operating," he said.

The Debenhams store at Manor Shopping Centre, Tralee, which is now closed. Picture: Domnick Walsh

Kerry must also contend with having one of the oldest populations in the country with young people increasingly leaving for larger urban centres.

“The younger population have left and they are the ones that keep the vibrancy in a town going," said Mr Tobin.

“The generations are moving on and we haven’t addressed the flow of knowledge and the flow of people out of the smaller towns; those people are becoming more drawn to the larger cities and they have become more vibrant on the back of that.” 

He says there needs “to be a balance” of FDI and indigenous industry.

“But we can’t do this on our own in Kerry, we need additional support to attract new industry.

“We have learned the hard way as a result of Covid-19 because our tourism and hospitality sectors have been absolutely wiped out.” 

Another blow for Tralee has been the cancellation of this year’s Rose of Tralee Festival, worth €8m, because of Covid-19. 

“It’s a hammer blow,” said Mr Tobin.

“But we have to remain optimistic and are very confident that the festival will be back in 2021 when it will reclaim its position in Irish hearts and on Irish TV.”