Leitrim must be ready to compete for global investment, IDA chief says

Leitrim must make itself visible to international investors while ensuring it has the housing, energy and water infrastructure needed to support future growth, IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan has said.

Speaking at the Landmark Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon on Friday, September 25, the Cloone native said the county had a strong story to tell but needed to ensure it was heard by companies making investment decisions around the world.

“A place must be understood before it can be considered. It must be visible before it can be chosen,” Mr Lohan said.

The IDA chief, who still lives in Cloone, said the event was personal to him. Although his role takes him around the world, he returns home to Leitrim each week and said he uses conversations at IDA Ireland’s Dublin office to promote the county.

He said employment in IDA client companies in Leitrim had doubled over the past decade, while acknowledging there was still more work to do.

Minister Frank Feighan also used the event to make a direct appeal to the IDA chief to put the Carrick campus in front of potential international investors.

“I know, Michael, you will do everything you can to put the Carrick campus on the international scene for potential investment,” Mr Feighan said.

He argued that Carrick-on-Shannon should not be viewed solely as a county town when making the case for investment and jobs, pointing to its reach into neighbouring counties.

“Carrick-on-Shannon isn’t just a county town, it’s a regional town,” he said, highlighting the people it draws from Roscommon, Longford and south Sligo.

Mr Feighan said the advanced technology building in Carrick provided prospective investors with a ready location and demonstrated what IDA Ireland and Leitrim County Council could achieve by working together.

He also recalled the work involved in securing the former Bank of America building for the local authority, saying the regional reach of Carrick-on-Shannon had helped make the case for funding.

IDA client companies supported more than 1,190 direct jobs across four multinational operations in Leitrim in 2025, Mr Feighan told the gathering.

The challenge now, he said, was to build on that base and ensure companies overseas knew what Leitrim and the wider northwest could offer.

Mr Lohan also praised the ambition behind the Carrick campus but cautioned that investment in property required patience. A company could arrive in five months, five years or even 10 years, he said.

He said companies considering new locations were no longer simply looking at an individual building or site. They wanted access to specialist skills, research partners, resilient teams and a good quality of life for employees.

Digitalisation, sustainability, advanced manufacturing and healthcare were among the areas where he identified opportunities for regional locations.

However, Mr Lohan warned that Ireland could not take its success in attracting foreign direct investment for granted as competitor countries continued to invest in their own infrastructure and skills.

“Without capacity from either housing, energy or water, our economy locally or nationally simply cannot grow,” he said.

For Leitrim, he said, attracting investment also meant giving people reasons to build their futures in the county, including routes into education and employment and opportunities for those who wanted to return home.

Mr Feighan also pointed to changes in Leitrim’s towns and villages since the pandemic, saying remote working and improved broadband had helped people move into rural communities.

“I’m much more confident now that those towns and villages… are in a better place,” he said.

He acknowledged, however, that housing remained a challenge. While second-hand house prices in Leitrim had not reached the levels experienced on the east coast, he said attracting larger housing developments to the county would require further work.

Mr Feighan said cooperation between local authorities, education providers, enterprise agencies and businesses would be important in attracting further investment, with Atlantic Technological University providing skills relevant to industries the region hoped to develop.

Mr Lohan similarly stressed that winning investment depended on relationships and confidence as well as economic figures.

He urged those attending the event to become ambassadors for Leitrim through their own business and personal networks, saying prospective investors wanted to understand not only what a location could provide but also the people and long-term support behind it.

Both speakers ultimately returned to the same message: Leitrim had something valuable to sell, but it had to make sure the rest of the world knew about it.

“Leitrim has a strong and powerful story to tell,” Mr Feighan said. “The challenge and opportunity is to make sure the story is heard far beyond the county.”Mr Lohan echoed that message.

“Leitrim has a strong story to tell,” he said. “It’s a story of community, it’s a story of enterprise, it’s a story of resilience and it’s a story of creativity.”