FDI challenge for Cork region

Some 80% of Foreign Direct Investment inquiries coming to the IDA and this country are focused solely on the Dublin and D2 market, posing challenges for other Irish cities and regions like Cork, DTZ director Frank Ryan told the first southern gathering of a new representative body, Property Industry Ireland, this week.

Up to 100 people across a range of professions, from architects to accountants, as well as developers, builders, bankers, asset managers and estate agents, gathered in the Clarion Hotel, Cork, as the aims of the 75-member firm PII were outlined by director Finola McDonnell, and chairman Kieran McGowan, former IDA chief executive and CRH chairman.

Ms McDonnell (previously head of public affairs at IBEC,) said while the broad property sector was blamed for the bubble and burst, “it doesn’t mean we are not going to play an essential role in the future of Ireland and provision of things like critical infrastructure.” With a strong research role and stakeholders including State agencies and Government departments and ministers, PII’s aim was to focus in an objective, non-self-serving way on the business of property, efficient planning and funding, she said.