Vacant factories - Buildings could benefit community

NOTHING is more dispiriting for a local community ravaged by unemployment than the depressing sight of a vacant IDA factory and the fading hope of jobs ever being created there.

The problem is so widespread that 87 factories owned or leased by the IDA currently stand idle. Psychologically, it can have a profound impact on the local community.

If an industrialist was to wave a magic wand in the Mayo village of Ballinrobe, he would give a new lease of life to a factory closed for the past 22 years.

But the problem of unproductive factories is not confined to rural areas. Dublin is worst affected with 22 vacant factories and Cork is a close second with 21 dormant units.

A countrywide scan shows 10 units are idle in Kerry, seven in Waterford and five in Galway, while West Meath, Mayo and Wexford each have one empty factory.

A cursory analysis suggests vacant units should be released for alternative uses, for community activities, as crèche facilities, FÁS training centres or the like.

But unless the regulations are changed, vacant IDA factories will continue to gather cobwebs because the Government has ruled out their use for other purposes.

The IDA cannot release them because its factories can only be used for manufacturing or internationally-traded services. But with so many factories mothballed, there are compelling reasons why the Government should change the rules so that factories can be leased for alternative uses.

Ironically, during the electronic voting debacle we had the ridiculous situation of the Government having to rent factories at considerable cost to store the redundant voting equipment. Arguably, if the rules governing IDA property were more flexible, a handful of factories, lying idle for years under State ownership, could and should have been used for storage.

A separate problem arises because 34 of the 87 vacant factories on the IDA books are being rented out by developers to the authority on 35-year leases. In plain language, the taxpayer is stuck with them.

With the annual rental bill coming to around €2.4 million, based on today’s figures, the authority is facing a whopping €83m bill over a 35-year period.

To ease its financial burden, the IDA is putting up for sale the 53 factories which it owns outright. For the future, instead of factories, the organisation will be concentrating on building land banks for development.

It is notoriously difficult to fill large factories, particularly on IDA estates. The problem has been compounded by the fall-off in demand following the closure of a string of manufacturing outfits, especially in the IT sector.

Adding to the IDA’s woes, last year was the worst in over a decade for attracting full-time jobs to Ireland. In 2003, the total of new jobs came to 9,182. The lowest level since 1994, it contrasts with a high of almost 23,000 jobs attracted here in 2000.

With the cold winds of industrial competition blowing from Eastern Europe, the Government should consider renting out empty IDA factories to local communities or other interest groups on a six-monthly rotating lease. At least, in that way they would be doing somebody some good.