‘If you’ve got the idea, there is help at hand’

Shannon Development offers property solutions and support, writes Conor Kane.

YES, times are tough, agrees Michael Foley, Shannon Development’s divisional manager for regions and strategic projects, but for someone with the spark of an idea and a bit of drive and energy there’s a wide range of State supports to assist people.

While Shannon Development will be impacted by the Government announcement to restructure Shannon Airport and transfer Shannon Development’s enterprise development role at Shannon Free Zone to the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, it is business as usual for the company until the roll-out.

Shannon Development resources, develops and delivers key strategic projects with significant economic impact across the region and supports business start-ups through its range of turn-key property solutions.

“We have specialist offices and incubation facilities with state-of-the-art infrastructure for service-type businesses. We operate five business and technology parks around the region, these are; Kerry Technology Park, the National Technology Park in Limerick, the Information Age Park Ennis, Thurles Technology Park and Birr Technology Centre,” Mr Foley explains.

These business parks have seen 28 new business start-ups in 2011.

For those who may be interested in availing of such units — what’s the next move? “Just come along with your business proposal to us. We provide property solutions and the relevant support agencies look after grant funding,” Mr Foley says.

At the moment, it might not seem like a particularly auspicious time to be setting up a new business .But, sometimes, the greatest opportunities can manifest themselves at times like this and anyone who might have had some sort of idea should know the agencies are only too keen to help anybody who might be in the business of creating jobs.

Words of wisdom: ‘The greatest opportunities can manifest themselves in difficult times.’