A LOCAL councillor has queried if the IDA have ‘washed their hands’ of West Cork after being informed recently that a 10-acre site in Skibbereen, belonging to the State body, has been sold privately to West Cork Film Studios.
Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) raised the issue at a meeting recently and said the West Cork area is in dire need of major employment to keep its young people living in the area. ‘There were a number of acres just outside Skibbereen, owned by the IDA, and I don’t think they made any serious effort to get something there. But now we find out this site at Poundlick is not to be sold publicly, but privately,’ said Cllr Carroll. ‘Are the IDA answerable to anyone? And have they washed their hands of West Cork and changed their policy on rural Ireland? Do they think we are going to live in scenery alone?’
Cllr Carroll pointed out that there are three senior football teams in the area and they will struggle to field teams if there is no work for young people.
His colleague, Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy, said the same thing is happening in other towns and that the IDA has washed their hands of job creation in rural locations.
‘It seems they have a policy of offloading every bit of land they have in regional areas. My concern is that they seem to be selling land willy-nilly without public scrutiny,’ said Cllr Murphy, who said the IDA should ‘get off the playing field’ and pass it on to Cork County Council who could use these sites to create jobs.
TD Michael Collins said this week that he would be asking the IDA about the plan for Poundlick. ‘We need sites like this in order to draw in potential employers,’ he said.
O’Donnell Furniture based on Skibberreen’s Baltimore Road, are diversifying a part of their business into West Cork Film Studio. ‘All communications with interested parties – IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Cork County Council, have been extremely supportive and very much value that this venture will add to the local economy,’ said a statement. O’Donnell Furniture has operated on the Baltimore Road for more than 40 years and worked from an IDA building for almost 20 years. ‘Our experience with IDA is positive and we have run a successful furniture manufacturing business for over 40 years with some employees employed as long.’
