Councillors seek action for neglected Fermoy IDA site

The former Fitzgerald Camp army barracks is a fully-serviced site which has lain empty for 21 years in the north Cork town

The former Fitzgerald Camp army barracks in Fermoy, Co Cork, is in a derelict state after years of neglect. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cork County Councillors are calling on Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney to put pressure on the IDA to utilise a fully-serviced site it owns in north Cork which has been empty for 21 years. 

Councillors representing the Fermoy Municipal District have lost patience with the IDA and are asking Mr Coveney to intervene after a senior official at the State agency didn’t respond to a request to meet them about the site at Dublin Road, Fermoy.

Formerly Fitzgerald Camp army barracks, the Department of Defence handed the 21-acre site over to the IDA many years ago, but it is still unoccupied.

The municipal district council had written to the IDA on a number of occasions and eventually got a correspondence back which council chairman Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy described as “a nothing reply”. 

It angered him and several of his colleagues to such an extent that they're asking Mr Coveney to address it.

An IDA official pointed out that it has 229 client companies in the South-West Region (Cork and Kerry), employing 52,228 people and that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) performance in the region has been consistent over the past five years with employment among IDA clients increasing by 32%.

The official added the region has significant cross-the-board investment from FDI companies which have significantly contributed to employment growth and positive economic impacts on other sectors of the economy.

The Department of Defence handed the 21-acre site over to the IDA many years ago, but it is still unoccupied. Picture: Larry Cummins

He said the availability of quality business parks and strategic sites is a critical component of the 'regional value proposition' and winning investments into the regions.

Despite the land still lying idle he insisted the IDA “is committed to the continued promotion of the lands at Fermoy for development for employment generating uses”. 

However, councillors were not satisfied with this.

“We have raised suggestions and ideas with them, but they haven’t been taken on. People are going to be asking us again what’s happening there and we’re going to get it in the neck. It (the reply) is not acceptable,” Mr McCarthy said.

We must write back and say we’re still looking for a meeting with them. It’s just not right.

Fianna Fail councillor Frank O’Flynn described the reply as an exercise of “pen-pushing” claiming it simply wasn’t good enough.

“It’s an ideal site, very close to the M8 (Cork-Dublin motorway), Cork city, and the Port of Cork. We have a well-educated and flexible local workforce. I can’t understand why they can’t fill it,” he said.

Fianna Fail councillor William O’Leary previously asked the IDA to sell the site.

Fine Gael councillor Kay Dawson said it was time for Mr Coveney to intervene.