Carlow is being sorely impacted by a lack of foreign investment into the county.
That’s according to local TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, who is raising concern about the lack of engagement that overseas investors have with the area.
She says the IDA only visited Carlow once in 2020, alongside one e-visit.
Deputy Murnane O’Connor says they don’t realise all the potential the county has to offer, noting “It’s about bringing business to Carlow and you know we’re so lucky now and you can see MSD there for example now are actually doing on a big new extension there with over two hundred and something jobs coming shortly so it’s about bringing investment into Carlow, we’ve got huge opportunities here and we can deliver for them so I want to work with the IDA and work with promoting Carlow as best I can it’s just making sure that the IDA know I’m always there promoting Carlow and working to make sure we get every opportunity we can to keep Carlow on the map”.
She adds “Carlow has just so much to offer; our location, we have some of the best sites around, I firmly believe that Carlow has a lot to give, I believe that our location, I believe Carlow itself and county and surroundings, whether it’s Bagensltown, Tullow, you know, that we have a lot to offer, there’s so much amenities in Carlow so I just feel that the IDA now need to prioritise us”.
And the FF representative believes more jobs could be brought to Carlow if the IDA increased their visits there, telling KCLR Newxs “We need to be getting more visits from the IDA because we have so much to offer and I think for me it’s about job creation, to make sure we’re working with the IDA, with the Department but also to make sure too that the businesses that we have in Carlow that when we come back out of Level 5 lockdown or any other levels that we have to hopefully that we will come out of them shortly that we just have the opportunity to work with all the different areas particularly the IDA”.