High-tech jobs are secure insists Minister

Date Published: 01-Apr-2008

HIGH-TECH and biomedical jobs in Galway City will not be “migrating to Dublin anytime soon”, according to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Last week, the Galway Chamber of Commerce expressed concern that a report looking at the development of Galway and other cities, predicts a massive population shift to the greater Dublin area over the next 20 years.

The report, carried out by Dublin Institute of Technology, says that one of the ‘key pivotal uncertainties’ is whether Galway City can keep high-tech and bio-medical jobs between now and 2030. However, Minister Michael Martin, who announced the creation of up to 90 jobs in Galway yesterday, told the Sentinel that despite what the “prophets of doom”have predicted, high-tech and bio-medical jobs in the city are secure.

“I haven’t seen that specific report but I’ve been in Galway and the west quite a lot in the past few months making announcements. The strongest medical device cluster in Ireland is in the west with over 4,000 jobs and I don’t see that migrating anytime soon to Dublin.

“The Government’s road and public infrastructure programme will improve access to Galway. While …….