Ballinasloe - A great location for Business
Location
Ballinasloe is located 30.5 km west of Athlone, 76.5km east of Galway City and 153km west of Dublin City. The town is also located on the N6 National Primary route and is served by the Dublin-Galway railway line. It is also positioned to the eastern edge of the Infrastructure/Transport Corridor as displayed within the Draft Galway County Development Plan 2009-2015 between Galway Gateway and Athlone Linked Gateway and the town is strategic in it’s location regarding road, rail and gas (Dublin to Galway project) infrastructure provision.
Services
Ballinasloe has an extensive range of services including health, community, educational, financial, industrial/enterprise and retail. The town also has a growing residential and commercial sector with strong connections between Ballinasloe to other key towns within the County and to Athlone Linked Gateway. Self sufficient towns such as Ballinasloe are able to accommodate their populations to live, work, shop, go to school and enjoy recreation without the need for constant travel. The town is the largest town in County Galway after Galway City, the population of the town is almost 6,000 with a further 8,000 residing in the environs.
Broadband / Networks
The town is served with both conventional and broadband networks and has a choice of carriers, which ensures competitive pricing and quality service. The town is also located on Ireland’s Western Digital Corridor. This €17.7 million project consists of a 300 kilometer fibre-optic cable route connecting Dublin, Athlone, Galway and Shannon. This ‘corridor’ allows businesses and communities along the route to access a greatly expanded range of advanced broadband communications services, offered by national and global operators. The availability of this service will stimulate the construction of call-centres and other communications intensive businesses in areas such as Ballinasloe, situated along the Corridor. The town also has an Integrated Services Network (ISDN) and modern equipment in place. Last Mile of Athlone was recently awarded the 3.5 GHz wireless license for the Ballinasloe and East Galway region.
Business and Technology Park
Parkmore Business & Technology Park is an IDA site of 13 hectares (32 acres) located to the north east of the Town Centre on the Roscommon Road (R357). The site includes existing designs for advanced technology buildings and high specification office facilities to suit both manufacturing and internationally traded services clients. The services infrastructure has been developed to suit all client requirements and allows for further development.
Presently there are 2 anchor tenants.
1. Valois a French company
2. USCI a Japanese company
Ballinasloe Area Community Development Ltd
An Inter Agency Group was established and facilitated under the leadership of Galway County Council. In addition, at a local level, Ballinasloe Area Community Development Ltd ("BACD"), non-profit community company was set up by the local Credit Union, Chamber of Commerce, Creagh Community Council and Town Council in 1998 to help support the economic development of the town in the aftermath of two large multinationals leaving.
As a result of these efforts, the following has been achieved:
A new IDA advance factory has been constructed with Valois providing 100 jobs at the faculty. In 2004 construction began of a second advance facility in the IDA Business Park which is now completed and occupied by USCI providing 200 jobs approximately The involvement of Ballinasloe Town Council, Ballinasloe Chamber of Commerce and the Credit Union with BACD has resulted in the development of an Enterprise Centre in a building previously owned by the Western Health Board - St. Enda's Hospital. The Enterprise Centre was set up with the support of Enterprise Ireland, the County Enterprise Board and Galway County Council together with the strong backing, by way of time and finance from the community of Bailinasloe. Funding has been received from the Galway County and City Enterprise Board for the installation of Video Conferencing facilities at this Enterprise Centre. The building is now fully operational and currently the home to 14 businesses and new start-ups with approximately 200 jobs being created.Commercial / Services Profile
The town currently has a vibrant commercial center for its catchment area and in addition to being a successful base for Irish companies Ballinasloe & its surrounding area is also the operating base for a number of multinational companies including Valois and USCI.
Medical
The Health Service Executive (HSE) remains the main medical services provider in the town.
Portiuncla Hospital is an acute hospital providing in-patient service in general medicine and general surgery and also offers a wide range of services including obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics and neo natal, oral surgery, pain relief, geriatric medicine. The hospital also has a well defined day care service and a broad range of in-house and visiting specialists in most major areas of medicine. Recent extensions have provided 4 new operating theatre suites, intensive care unit, coronary care unit and a number of new services as well as the extension of those already available. The hospital also acts as a medical educational centre in conjunction with UCHLG and NUI, Galway.
St Brigid’s Hospital caters for mental health. Future trends within the HSE include the re-establishment of most patients within the community environment. A new 60 bed nursing home is currently under construction along the Taughmaconnell Road (R357)
The Brothers of Charity provide a day care centre for the elderly and children with special needs as well as meals on wheels service to the community.
The Health Centre at Brackernagh caters for a wide number of community services
Retail
There is a broad range of well established shops available, including supermarkets, (Tesco, Lidl, SuperValu, Cost Cutters and Aldi) hardware, electrical stores, travel agents, shoe shops, draperies and garden centres.
Accomodation/Restaurants
Ballinasloe has four hotels (Haydens Gateway Hotel, Gullanes Hotel, Moycarn Lodge and the Carlton Shearwater Hotel) and a variety of restaurants ranging from coffee shops, gourmet dining and ethnic restaurants to fast food outlets. The town has over 20 pubs many of which provide bar food.