Killybegs is beginning a five month slump due to restricted fish quotas but headlines quoting 2,000 job losses hardly tell the true story.
Firstly it is important to note that the headlines are being created by the captains of the industry and that the blame is been laid at the door of the government and its failure to re-negotiate the E.U. Fisheries agreement with Ireland. This is a tune which has been played time and time again over the past twenty-five years.
It is similar to the farmers perennial theme “we’ll all be ruined” said Hanraghan “before the year is out”.
Yet Killybegs harbour and its complement of boats goes from strength to strength and you never hear of any farms of land going cheaply. We also know that the farmers have a very powerful lobby fighting their cause both in Dublin and Brussels. The fishing industry is similarly aware of all the limitations on the government as it negotiates in Europe.
The ‘cry wolf’ headlines, for whatever purpose, obscure other realities in the county’s changing economic climate and the problems ensuing which will not be tackled until far too late.
The most topical is the damage being done by objections and hindrances to building and business developments by council planners, Dúchas and An Taisce. Private building and business development creates jobs and increased economic activity through new money and investment coming into the county, yet every move is viewed with a jaundiced eye. What special right have those in secure jobs to smugly put obstacles in the way of developments which can only bring in extra money and badly needed jobs!
The tourism industry, if not already on its knees, is headed in that direction. The only new ideas to counteract the trend are both mooted for Bundoran, a casino and Sea-World. Neither of these is likely to be in place in the near future - but Bundoran is the only town in the county which is doing well and hardly needs either of these projects.
Take Sea-World for instance - is Killybegs not the obvious place for such a venture? Such an attraction in Killybegs would open up the whole region of South West Donegal to added family visitors, not to mention the benefits to the Donegal Town area. The case for Bundoran as a location is bogus. The unsaid argument for Bundoran is that the arcade owners would benefit enormously by attracting more families to ‘Ireland’s premier resort’ to play slot machines.
The tourism industry in Donegal has to stoically stand alone, while Bord Failte dispenses its expertise and largesse below that infamous economic line which runs from Dublin to Galway - and its minions in Donegal are controlled into focusing on very selected areas. This after five years of heading up the tourism ministry and Bord Failte!
The job losses really add up when we address the industrial situation in the county. A number of years after the massive loss of Fruit of the Loom and the setting up of the Donegal Task Force, the situation only gets more dire. The Gweedore industrial estate is decimated, Unifi in Letterkenny is beginning to move out and, locally, Magees are outsourcing work to Morocco.
The Donegal Task Force and the ‘Agencies’ have failed this county totally at a time when disaster has, for a number of years, been seen to be rolling towards us at a steady inexorable pace. Now that it is upon us, the ‘County Development Committee’ is asking to see the Minister, Mary Harney - it’s enough to make a cat laugh!
There has been far too much public emphasis placed on our disadvantages over this past ten years of prosperity and it has entered into our pscyhe. Many of these disadvantages are imagined and hyped up for the begging bowl, to no good effect. Abbott have had a progressive trouble-free existence in Donegal for over twenty years. But when the company decided to expand further in Ireland, Donegal got small consideration.
Being on the Western periphery will initially seem unattractive for inward investing - but why do we keep emphasising this. Disadvantages can be overcome. Unifi and Abbott located here years ago at a time when we didn’t even have a phone system and our roads were a joke compared to the present. The fishing industry in Killybegs has flourished throughout this period and can still look to the future - not to mention the added possibilities around oil and gas.
The really serious disadvantages of the past were overcome by selling the positives of the county, while armed with a strong package of incentives. Being in the B.M.W. region should enable the re-assembly of the incentive package - while public figures who get the opportunity could start trumpeting the positives.
The indigenous businesses in the county, both industrial and tourism, could benefit greatly from a package of incentives designed to off-set the effects of the ever increasing (exponentially) charges such as insurance, rates and others levied by the county manager. It is time for action - not talk.
