The Minister for Planning, Housing and Local Government Eoghan Murphy TD today launched the M1 Corridor Project in Bellingham Castle.
The M1 Corridor Project is a business-led initiative driven by local business groups, led by Dundalk Chamber, Drogheda & District Chamber, and The Mill Enterprise Hub and Oriel Hub Enterprise Centre.
The project will drive international investment into the region by highlighting the enormous advantages it has as a superb location for investment. Central among these advantages is the connectivity of the region as the transport and broadband backbone of the island.
Speaking at the launch, Paddy Malone of Dundalk Chamber said: ‘’the M1 Corridor Project has been carefully developed by local business groups on both sides of the border for over ten years and will bring new investment and jobs into the Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry region. Our critical objective is to highlight the huge advantages of the region in comparison to Dublin or Belfast as a location for investment.
“The North East region has been comparably neglected and has relied on indigenous business for development. For countless years, there has been far too much emphasis placed on Dublin and this has backfired in terms of spiralling housing, commercial property and wage costs for firms moving to Ireland. The M1 corridor is close to Dublin but also highly cost competitive and will be of critical strategic importance to the all-island economy in the decades ahead.’’
President of Drogheda & District Chamber Shona McManus went on to say: “the M1 Corridor Project is a truly ground-up initiative that has been developed and supported by local stakeholders across the region. The M1 Corridor has enormous potential and offers unrivalled advantages to FDI, 2nd site and Start Up companies, including a growing and educated population, easy access to three airports and four deep water ports and faster broadband speeds than the IFSC. Since taking over his current ministerial brief, Minister Murphy has been hugely supportive of the project so far and we were very pleased that he launched the project today in Bellingham Castle.’’
The project addresses the key future planning, development and policy priorities for the Eastern and Midlands Region as set out in the Government’s Ireland 2040 development plan. The regional role of Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry cross-border networks are identified and supported in the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.
The launch event was attended by local and multinational business leaders based in the region. The business leaders wanted to show support for this major new cross-border initiative which will attract investment from multinational companies into the Drogheda -Dundalk-Newry region, along the M1 motorway.
