Government failing Midlands as Enterprise Ireland supported jobs lost

Labour candidate for Longford-Westmeath Alan Mangan has criticised the Fine Gael Government, for its ongoing failure to deliver jobs and investment in the Midlands, with the latest report from Enterprise Ireland yesterday showing a loss of jobs in the Midlands in 2019, adding to the losses from Bord na Móna.

Mr Mangan said:

“There was grim news for the Midlands in the annual employment report from Enterprise Ireland for 2019. It shows that there was a 1% reduction in jobs supported by the agency in the Midlands last year despite an increase everywhere else.

“What is shows is that we are being failed again by this Fine Gael-Independent Government.

“The report shows once again that the region is not getting the attention it deserves from the State. For some time we have been calling on the IDA to secure proper investment in the Midlands. We have hard-working people, great road networks and land in need of development. For example there is a great opportunity for the IDA to ensure the Business Park in Mullingar is prioritised and promoted for inward investment which we have consistently called for.

“I am concerned that home grown jobs are now also under threat. It is hard not to conclude that the region has been abandoned by official agencies, and is not being taken seriously as a destination for proper investment destination.

“What makes it even worse is that hundreds of decent jobs have been lost or are in serious danger in the ESB and Bord na Móna. The reality is that the so called ‘Midlands Fund’ is not delivering and there is a dark future for the region if this decline is not stopped immediately. There is no point in committing millions to a fund if the IDA and Enterprise Ireland are letting the region down. We need all the State bodies concerned to work together to deliver more employment opportunities in Longford and Westmeath.

“With an election coming soon, I want to be a new voice for our constituency to demand the investment and jobs we need. The Government is failing us, and jobs are being lost while every other area of the country is growing.”