Diaspora Can Help Get Clare Back To Work

May 29, 2012 - PRLog -- “We will succeed. We can deliver jobs in Clare by using our contacts abroad” was the rousing call made by Alan Gallagher of Connect Ireland at this week’s Clare County Development Board meeting.

In a bid to use all possible means and contacts to help attract foreign investment to Clare and create sustainable jobs, Clare County Development Board  invited Mr Gallagher back to Ennis for the second time this month to spread the word about the new initiative aimed at job creation using Clare’s vast Diaspora.

Connect Ireland is the company appointed by the government and the IDA to deliver the Succeed in Ireland initiative with the aim of creating 5,000 jobs in Ireland within five years as part of the Government’s 2012 Action Plan for Jobs.  

The initiative works by encouraging ordinary people and businesses to use their international connections to encourage companies to set up in Ireland. If you make a successful connection, you could make some money for yourself in the process too. An individual who introduces a company that subsequently invests in Ireland and creates new jobs will receive a financial reward of €4,500 if 3 jobs are created up to a maximum of €150,000.

According to Majella Mac Namara, Enterprise Officer with Clare County Council: “Many leading companies have already chosen Clare as a location for investment. The purpose of this new initiative is to attract smaller, more mobile companies to locate here too. The smaller companies can set up operations more quickly with the result that new jobs can be created a lot faster in smaller locations, such as Ennis and other parts of the county. What we need is to have suitable, attractive business space and to showcase and sell all the attractive aspects of the County.”

Senior representatives from Clare County Council made initial contact with the Connect Ireland team at a business networking event aimed at showcasing County Clare's attractiveness as an investment location organised by Clare County Council and hosted by the Consul General of Ireland in New York last March, which was attended by over 120 key business leaders in the US. Since this event, Clare County Council has been working with Connect Ireland and local business interests to try to get the initiative off the ground in Clare and some promising contacts have already been made.

Ms. Mac Namara continued: “We would urge the people of Clare to think about the people you know all over the world: friends, family, old schoolfriends and teammates, neighbours and business contacts. Just check in with them, you might be surprised at where they work, who they know and just what that quick email or phone call could result in in terms of job creation in Clare”.

If you would like to learn more about to play your part and perhaps make some money in the process, or if you’re interested in getting the Connect Ireland team to come to Clare to present to your group, contact Connect Ireland 056 7797322 or info@connectireland.com. Alternatively contact Majella Mac Namara, Planning & Enterprise, Clare County Council 065 6846426 or mtmacnamara@clarecoco.ie.

-ENDS-

CONTACT:
Mark Dunphy
Dunphy Public Relations
(Tel) 00353-868534900
www.dunphypr.com
www.twitter.com/dunphypr