Tánaiste Leo Varadkar visits Drogheda for talks with local business community
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar visited Drogheda yesterday evening to meet with representatives of the local business community.
At the meeting, which took place at The Mill Enterprise Centre, Mr. Varadkar heard from the President of the Drogheda and District Chamber of Commerce, Robert Murray, Trevor Connolly of Love Drogheda BID who told the Tánaiste about issues facing their members and the need for funding going forward.
The meeting was also attended by Colm Markey MEP and staff from the Department of Business and Enterprise were also present.
The Tánaiste also met a couple of local companies to discuss the gaps between start-up LEO funding and large-scale business funding. Gary McAuslan of ACGT and Shane Monahan of LIMOR explained to him the problems they experienced in trying to scale a business within the current support system.
Chamber President Robert Murray told Drogheda Life that the meeting was an important opportunity for Chamber, the Mill and BIDS to update the Tánaiste on current and future projects taking place in Drogheda, in the business context – but also to raise and discuss the many challenges faced by the local business community at the moment.
“It was an opportunity to raise specific concerns by businesses operating in certain industries locally and of course wider issues like PANCR and Education were also discussed in detail.
“It was encouraging to see how well the Tánaiste understood the complexities that exist within our region, and he was proactive in trying to seek solutions for them.
“Well done to Ronan Whitty the new Manager at the Mill for hosting an excellent, very worthwhile session.”
Deputy O’Dowd said that he had organised the visit as he wanted Mr. Varadkar to meet with some of the “…incredibly talented and exciting businesses we have in our town.
“The Enterprise Hub is a fantastic facility and the government is committed to supporting the Hub, over €200k in state funding has been allocated since November.
“We need to continue to nurture our local entrepreneurs and I wanted An Tánaiste to see first-hand the difficulty they are experiencing when trying to scale up their businesses.
“We have a new 40 acre IDA site in North Drogheda which will house a new Advanced Building Solution that will focus on Financial Services, Technology, Global Services and Life Sciences sectors.
“We need to make sure that businesses can scale upwards and be in position to locate locally which will not only create employment opportunities but also reduce the need to commute.
“We still need to address the Northern Cross Route and Local Administrative Issues we are encountering but we also have very positive developments such as the AWS investment, significant employment prospects, the Drogheda Implementation Plan and Failte Irelands Destination Town and Urban Animation plans. These are exciting times for Drogheda.
“I want to thank the Mill, The Chamber, and Love Drogheda for the excellent work they are undertaking and they have my continued support going forward.”
