'Phone a friend' strategy not good enough from IDA

Six months after local politicians in Navan laid down the challenge to the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to fill the void left by the departure of Quinn Insurance workers from a brand new, state-of-the-art office building in Navan, the authority's response to councillors in the town is a little disconcerting, to say the least. Navan Town Council recently received a letter from the IDA in reply to a query sent to it asking about the future of the landmark building, which saw the last of its staff depart last June when they were redeployed to other centres as part of the restructuring of the Quinn Group's insurance operations. The two-year-old building was built to house 700 Quinn Insurance workers at a time when the Quinn Group was riding the tail of the Celtic Tiger and planning for major expansion beyond Ireland. With a full complement, it would have been one of Navan's largest private sector employers, alongside Tara Mines. The IDA in a letter to Navan Town Council said that "we must be realistic in accepting that not every prospective investor in the financial/international services sector in Ireland is seeking an 83,000sq ft facility in a large provincial town". The authority is undoubtedly correct in this assessment but it is what it goes on to say that will leave those charged with economic development in Navan and Meath concerned. The IDA suggests the search for a new occupier should be broadened beyond the IDA and Enterprise Ireland and the estate agents who are marketing the building, adding that county and town councils, chambers of commerce "and other advocates for the county" should identify Meath natives occupying senior management positions in financial or insurance companies in Ireland and should look further afield "by engagement with Meath natives/diaspora occupying senior positions in major internationals that might have a current presence in the IFSC or as yet no operating presence in Ireland". Cllr Shane Cassells slammed the letter from the authority, saying: "This really brings a new meaning to the term 'phone a friend'." He went on to say: "Basically, the IDA strategy appears to be resting on the hope that one of us has a distant relative in America that is the CEO of a blue chip company and ask him to come to Navan." Such a response from a State agency tasked with promoting national economic development certainly leaves an impression of desperation. The idea that the Irish diaspora be tapped could form a minor plank in an overall inward investment sales strategy but it should certainly not be the only plank. The councillor's frustration is understandable. Reading between the lines, one could draw the conclusion that the IDA has already exhausted every avenue open to it and the only one left open is to ring around a few people in Manhattan or Silicon Valley in the hope that they might be on the lookout for an Irish base. Surely the IDA can give this prominent, modern, high-quality building more of a priority than this? We have listened in this county for years to local politicians saying Meath never gets its fair share of foreign direct investment (FDI). Meath West TD Peadar Toibin said earlier this year that the IDA has said in the past that not having a ready-made building into which a FDI company can move quickly in Meath has prevented jobs coming to the county. This no longer is the case. Navan may have lost the Quinn Insurance jobs but it retains this virtually new and high-quality facility which could accommodate a variety of businesses seeking a signature headquarters close to Dublin and with a large and well-educated workforce on its doorstep. It is acknowledged that there is huge international competition among countries to attract foreign direct investment, particularly from eastern Europe and Asian hubs like Singapore, but there are still positive signals that Ireland can punch above its weight when it comes to FDI. However, regional towns like Navan seem to be losing out as the IDA remains focused on attracting investment to large urban centres at the expense of smaller regional towns. It is now time our government TDs established precisely what policy objectives the IDA has for towns like Navan and demand answers as to how foreign investors can be incentivised to look at areas outside the major cities in order to promote more balanced regional development.