County forum to tackle jobless threat gets off ground

A meeting designed to establish a forum for ideas in tackling the unemployment crisis in Meath and create new employment in the county has been provisionally fixed for the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan on Monday 2nd March. Former county football manager and freeman of Meath, Sean Boylan, has agreed to chair the first meeting, which was set up following last week"s 'call to arms" by independent Meath County Councillor Brian Fitzgerald who said that the aim was to tackle the county"s soaring unemployment rate and 'come up with firm ideas to push the jobs agenda'. Unemployment figures for the county have shown dramatic increases. Statistics for January show that the county had recorded the highest increases in the numbers 'signing on" in the country. The numbers applying for social welfare payments have risen from 3,848 in January 2008 to 8,219 last month. As arrangements for the meeting went ahead, Cllr Fitzgerald said that he was 'extremely heartened' by the response to his call for people to respond to 'this crisis'. The Navan and Kells Chambers of Commerce have welcomed the initiative and, this week, Fianna Fail councillor Tommy Reilly said that he was backing the move '100 per cent'. Cllr Reilly, who is chairperson of the Meath County Council SPC on planning and development, and cathaoirleach of the Mid-East Regional Authority, said it was important that leaders of the community in the county 'put their best thoughts forward' in coming up with constructive ways of tackling unemployment and creating new opportunities for business. 'We are undoubtedly in a serious situation and we have to try and fight our way out of it. This can only be done if we all pull together. This is no time for sectional interests,' he said. The Fianna Fail councillor said there was also a need for the structures of creating employment to be looked at. 'At present, we have the Meath County Enterprise Board, the County Development Board, Leader, Meath Partnership and throw in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. There are too many of them and I think they should be put together, perhaps under the leadership of Tom Dowling and Kevin Stewart in Meath County Council,' he added. Cllr Fitzgerald said that no hard and fast rules would be applied to the meeting in the Ardboyne Hotel. 'We just want to ensure that we tap into the goodwill that is there and, hopefully, we will attract people who have business ideas, who have the vision to see how the county can go forward.' Meanwhile, Meath County Council said this week that it has put in place a range of measures to support and encourage economic activity, including a programme of meeting local business leaders and the establishment of a high level 'think tank" to help stimulate business ideas. The measures were first launched last October as part of the 'Make It Meath" promotional campaign. The measures in place or planned include a programme of visits to all of the major employers in the county, the establishment of an economic development sub-committee of the County Development Board that would act as a business taask force for the county; a fast-track system for planning applications for large economic development projects is in place; a major campaign to promote Meath as the ideal location in which to set up and do business is continuing; an examination of all council activities to ensure they are business friendly is underway, and a review has commenced of the County Development Plan to ensure that policies are positive to those trying to establish new enterprises. The council says it also has a business expansion levy which provides for a 50 per cent reduction in development levies for expansions to existing business; a number of partnerships have been formed between the council and local business including the development of the www.meathbusinessproperty.ie and www.meetinmeath.ie websites, and training and education opportunities are being provided locally as a result of partnerships between the council and third-level colleges such as NUI Maynooth, Dundalk IT, Blanchardstown IT and DCU. County Manager Tom Dowling said it was particularly important that the council kept in regular touch with all local business leaders and they were doing that at the moment through a series of visits and meetings with senior executives in the top companies around the county. Kevin Stewart, director of economic development and innovation with Meath County Council, said he believed the establishment of the Economic Development Committee of the County Development Board could act as a high level 'think-tank" for the benefit of Meath. The council had an important and leading role to play in that forum, he said. 'This committee should, as a first task, identify and bring together representatives of the major employers and businesspeople in the county and get their input as to measures that should be taken in order to get business going again,' he said.