LIMERICK Chamber chief executive James Ring is leaving his role this week confident that, with all key stakeholders pulling together, the greatest days for the city, county and region are most definitely ahead.
Speaking as he winds up his three-year spell on Friday as head of the largest business representative group in the region, Dr Ring also says that we perhaps take for granted the assets we have, assets that no other region except Dublin can compare with.
And if we continue the spirit of collaboration and maximise this collective, jobs and investment will flow at an even higher rate than they have over the past five years when more than 5,000 private sector jobs were created in the city and suburbs alone.
Talking to the Limerick Post ahead of taking up his appointment next week as chief executive of the locally headquartered international consultancy company Ingenium, the Limerick City native said that the region was on the verge of its most exciting era in modern times.
“Listening last weekend to The Business Show on RTÉ Radio with Richard Curran, which came from Shannon Airport and focussed essentially on that remarkable recovery that has taken place in this region, I couldn’t help but have a great sense of confidence that we have really good days ahead.
“It very much came across that there is not a single region in the country outside of Dublin that has the collective that we have here.
“We have Shannon Airport with direct year-round links to the US, UK and mainland Europe and set to achieve strong growth again this year. It is part of a collective Shannon Group that also includes Shannon Commercial Properties, which has one of the biggest commercial property portfolios in the country and is investing tens of millions at the moment. It also has Shannon Heritage, the largest operator of day and night time tourist attractions in Ireland, including the likes of King Johns Castle and Bunratty Castle. And it has the largest aerospace cluster in the country with IASC (International Aviation Services Centre).
“Look across the estuary and you have Shannon Foynes Port Company investing record levels at Foynes and Limerick ports as it goes about taking advantage of some of Europe’s deepest waters along the Shannon Estuary by turning it into a major shipping and economic hub that will employ thousands of people.
“We have the city and county in Limerick, though still relatively newly aligned, really working cohesively and very, very creatively, doing things that few if any local authorities doe.
“A good example of this is the creation of Limerick Twenty Thirty, which is a very important regional stakeholder now itself having embarked on a record programme of redevelopment of inner-city commercial space and residential also on the outskirts at Mungret.
“For how long have we looked at the Gardens site, for example, half-built and disused. Well, this November it will be up and running as one of the top commercial spaces in the country and set to have hundreds of people working there. We’ve the Opera Site to follow and the former Cleeves factory site further down the line.
“We have LIT and UL with their own major expansion plans and much, much more besides. There’s a confluence of forward movement here from all these stakeholders that are creating an unbeatable energy for the region.”
Dr Ring said that it’s not just the infrastructure but the people driving it.
“Without naming names, I think that right across each of those key regional stakeholders, we have probably got the best collective team ever in place today in the region. Really smart, innovative leaders, driving their individual businesses but yet working closely to ensure we achieve that level of collaboration that really has other regions looking on with envy.
“That collaboration piece is key and I would like to think that the Chamber is in there too, playing its part. We’ve tried to push things on, to be more innovative in the way we represent and support our members and push for positive change for the city and region. And I’d like to think that we’ve achieved that.
“We have a great team in place, a very impressive CEO in Deirdre Ryan about to take over and a strong chair in Dr Mary Shire. I think, all told, we’re in a really great place in the region. We’re on the cusp of something great,” he concluded.
This interview is part of the Limerick Post Mid-West Industry special, read similar interviews and more special feature content here.
