Report Paul Murphy
A Sinn Fein councillor has claimed that there were no visits by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to North Meath and a “poor overall ranking” for the county as a whole. Cllr Peter Caffrey called on Meath County Council to address the issue by prioritising investment in infrastructure and skills to sustain future employment from both local and multinational companies. He said that Meath had a poor ranking in terms of visits compared to other counties.
Officials replied that in 2024 the IDA hosted just one site visit by foreign direct investors in the county while there were 466 nationwide. They said that the county council had addressed this issue with the IDA and had commenced a series of regular engagements with both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to ensure that Meath is considered when recommending potential locations to such investors. The Economic Development Section of the council was also proactively trying to address the issue and has produced a Strategic Employment Sites brochure in-house highlighting to potential developers large areas of appropriately zoned land across the county.
The council is also preparing a FDI Marketing Brochure highlighting the reasons why businesses will succeed if they locate in Meath
and this document will be produced in the coming weeks, the officials said. Other initiatives are also being undertaken, they added.
