Government must do better for Mullingar - Troy

The fact that there has been only one IDA sponsored visit to Mullingar over the last 18 months, shows "the political will is not there".

That's according to Deputy Robert Troy, who says that more needs to be done to promote the town. Responding to a recent question in the Dáil by Deputy Troy, the minister for jobs Richard Bruton revealed that out of 16 IDA sponsored visits by potential investors to the midlands last year, only one firm visited Mullingar. So far in 2014, the IDA has facilitated seven visits by potential investors to the region, none of whom made it to Mullingar.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner, Deputy Troy criticised the government for not doing more to attract investors to Mullingar.

“The political will is not there. Basically, the minister says it’s being done on a regional basis and that it’s down to the companies to decide, but that is abdicating responsibility. Quite frankly, it’s easy to see that they have no interest in promoting Mullingar despite the fact that there is a state of the art facility which has all the services in place. The park is ideally located with easy access to airports and ports and other parts of Ireland.

“We in Mullingar deserve investment the same as any other town. I think we are unfortunate that we are not getting prioritised and they can dress it up any which way they want. The only firm that has gone in there is a local company, Patterson Pumps, who wished to relocate and expand.

“Thankfully that’s there. Work has commenced on that and I would have been hopeful that it would have acted as an anchor tenant and this would attract more business but how is that going to happen if they are not promoting the town?"