Last Christmas Enterprise Ireland in the north-west appealed to emigrants to consider returning to their native area in order to set up a business. Up to 30 people have since expressed an interest, and a number are in active discussion with the organisation.
If they do come, by next year they will be able to move into an enterprise park near Sligo airport in the seaside village of Strandhill, about four miles from the town. This is the joint brain-child of Enterprise Ireland and the Sligo County Enterprise Board (SCEB), and it was a long time gestating.
They acquired the 40-acre site from the Sligo North-West Airport company, and planned to have the centre built by 1998, based on tax incentives which were announced at the time. However, these never materialised as the plan did not receive approval from the EU.
However, according to Mr Christy Leonard of the SCEB, they decided to go ahead anyway and raised the money themselves. Outline planning permission was granted, and full permission is expected within weeks. "We are hoping to go to tender in September, and have the building start in October," said Mr Leonard.
The building will measure 15,000 square feet, and will contain a creche, a canteen and a training room as well as work and office space for about 15 units. It will be based on the design of a centre in Enniskillen.
The type of industry expected is high-tech and export-orientated, according to Mr Barry Egan of Enterprise Ireland. "The clients of Enterprise Ireland are those who will bring foreign earnings into Ireland, but where the control of the company and the strategic decisions are based in Ireland," he said.
Asked whether infrastructural problems identified by a local government official and re ported last week in The Irish Times posed a problem, he said: "We don't have the same number of players here, so we don't have the scale. This makes it difficult to justify some decisions, and get the scale. That's where the Government comes in, to get that started."
However, some companies were finding advantages in moving to the north-west, Mr Egan said. There was more availability of people to work. Already there was a brain-drain from the north-west to the east, which meant a lot of people graduating from third-level institutions were underemployed. Wage expectations, childcare costs, housing costs and commuting time were less. "You can leave work at 5.30 p.m. and be on the golf course in half an hour.
"With Objective 1 status in the BMW region we are in a position to offer attractive packages to companies who might be interested in setting up in this area," he said. "We are also in a position to offer expertise and advice."
Until now the north-west has missed much of the economic development which has fuelled the Irish economy. "We haven't had the flow of start-ups of international services and new technologies, which is one of the great success stories of the country as a whole," he said. "We want to change that."
This would require more Government support. While Sligo airport now had two flights a day [last year it had only one, which made it impossible for business people to use the service to commute to Dublin], access and telecommunications were still a problem. "We will have an uphill battle. But we've proved we can do it if we have the infrastructure," Mr Egan said.