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Chinese are coming and building one of the biggest developments in Ireland

Plan for China trade hub to be set up in the midlands of Ireland is unveiled

JANE WALSH,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 7:42 AM

Updated Wednesday, May 2, 2012, 7:42 AM

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A computer-generated image of the intended Chinese investment hub in Athlone, Co Westmeath, according to the architect's preliminary plan

Photo by Irish Times

Plans for a 300-acre international China trade hub in Athlone have been unveiled.

The Europe China Trading Hub at Creggan, near Athlone, Co. Westmeath will provide a base for Chinese companies to promote business in Europe and the western world, the Irish Independent reports.

The proposed lucrative one-stop trade and exhibition center will initially create 1,530 jobs and the team involved say the first phase could be up and running in three years. The estimated cost of the five-phase development is $1.8 billion (1.4 billion euro).

John Tiernan, chief executive of Athlone Business Park Ltd, said construction could potentially begin by the end of 2013.

"It's big, yes. Some people have been gobsmacked by the overall scale of the masterplan but that is only if everything comes to pass," he said.

"I'm confident. But until the point when I'm told 'start pouring the concrete', there's always some doubt. And it's worth noting it's a project that does not produce waste water pipes with gunge coming out - it's a project that produces jobs."

The proposed new development will offer business executives in the U.S. easy access to the Chinese market while cutting down on travel time and the red tape associated with visa applications.

The proposed development will have a designated Irish section to promote domestic business.
If all five phases are built the site will include shops, restaurants, pubs, a theatre, cinemas, a library, railway station, two bus stations and an underground car park.

Developers hope to open the first phase by mid-2015 with another possible five phases to follow.

The full business hub could be operational by 2022 and employ around 9,000 workers; two thirds of which must be Irish or European. It is understood that Chinese investors will finance the project and that Irish banks will play no part in lending.

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GeorgeDillon | May 06, 2012, 10:23 AM EDT

CasualMBA: I am interested in your story about Chapel Hill School District dropping Chinese. (I did some graduate study at UNC-Chapel Hill---Go Tar Heels!). I tried to google the story but can't find it. Any chance you could give us your source. I think investing in Chinese is a waste of time, be it in Ireland or the US. Most Chinese would prefer us to speak to them in English. The ones high up the totem pole are the likeliest to speak good English. Lower down, they won't speak English, but who needs low level employees to make a deal? Further, Chinese is of little value outside China-- it's not a lingua franca like English, French, Arabic or Spanish are. The only reason to learn Chinese is if you're going to be living in China for a considerable time. In fact that's probably the only way to learn it! Of course the day you leave China is the day your Chinese skills start to deteriorate. Also, Chinese has little transfer value. Learning Chinese doesn't help with other languages, unless you mean tone languages, and there aren't many of these that people would want to learn. And then there's the Opportunity Cost. To learn Chinese well, including reading and writing, you'd need to spend many years working on it intensively. During those same years you could master Spanish and French, or make significant progress in Arabic or Irish. Or master something completely different--quantum mechanics, or Surrealist Art! There's already a billion and a half Chinese speakers in the world. We don't need any more.

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Curitiba | May 06, 2012, 10:12 AM EDT

You base your entire identity on and accent. I've always fancied working in New York, so I'm going to perfect an American one. They'll have to let me in then, won't they? I am sure you have had a hard day studying yesterday, so I'm not going to argue with you, I'm going to give you a chance to come up with a better one that that.

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ciaradexy | May 06, 2012, 07:40 AM EDT

Those of us from ireland have a very strong identity which is why we dont consider those who arent from Ireland as Irish! When I travel and I hear an irish accent, I can be assured that that accent is coming from someone I will have lots in common with and we will have plenty to chat about in regards home (Ireland). If I hear your accent I will hear a London accent, we will probably chat and as you are not from Ireland, you will be English to us. Its not rocket science.

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ciaradexy | May 06, 2012, 07:36 AM EDT

If youre not from Ireland then youre not Irish.

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Curitiba | May 05, 2012, 06:52 PM EDT

What a load of rubbish. People who are born abroad of irish parents are Irish, end of. Are you seriously suggesting that somebody born in Spain or Saudi Arabia of irish parents are Spanish or Saudi? You plastic paddy mates might be scared stiff of a tongue lashing from you for asserting their Irish identity, but I most certainly am not. I am trying to disprove the theory put about by you that the Irish identity is the weakest in the world. En garde!

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ciaradexy | May 05, 2012, 05:52 PM EDT

And Ancavker, as for your lady gaga statement, shes popular all over the world so I have no idea why you felt the need to mention that. Irish music isnt a niche, its part of everyday culture here. The Chieftans were on Jools Holland last weekend, Damien Dempsey plays trad, Delorentos sing in irish as do lots of contemporary irish bands and musicians. its not a secret group. Trad music is out there every single day, not just when the tourists are out but again, you dont live here so you wouldnt know that whereas those of us in Dublin city centre every day of the working week and the west and south of the country at the weekends are well aware of it and we are well use to it.

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ciaradexy | May 05, 2012, 05:48 PM EDT

Sirpete, I speak from experience of being irish born and bred unlike the foreigners on this site who assume to know everything about the Irish. Someone Irish dancing in England with an English accent will still be called Englsih when theyre here. If their mates in England call them Irish then great but if the irish dont consider you Irish, then youre not. Ancavker, I have plenty of English mates with irish parents, they are English not irish and they arent as stupid as Americans who like to tell us theyre Irish. we dont care because they aren't Irish at all! The reason i mentioned British is because anyone born in Britain is British so Curibita is British! My dad is from Monaghan, that doesn't mean that when i go to Monaghan i tell the locals Im also from Monaghan. My dad is, end of discussion.

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Curitiba | May 05, 2012, 12:40 PM EDT

Agree with you 100%, ancavker.

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ancavker | May 05, 2012, 10:21 AM EDT

curtiba: Don't worry the Plastic Paddies in England and the Dumb Yanks in the U.S. are doing a fine job keeping the culture alive, and we can be proud of that, The Irish in Ireland can have Lady Gaga and Jedward, we in both the U.S. and England will take care of the culture.

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ancavker | May 05, 2012, 10:18 AM EDT

ciara: You are full of honey now dear.I am in England alot on business, and many, many ENglish people of Irish descent identify as Irish. Obviously you don't know the country as much as you claim you do. Oh and news flash most English people identify as English, not British. British is just on the passport dear.

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Curitiba | May 05, 2012, 05:24 AM EDT

I thought Ciaradexy was Queen of Ireland and you all had to obey her and agree with her opinions, sirpeter? That's the impression I get from her.

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sirpeter | May 04, 2012, 10:18 PM EDT

ciaradexy.But in all fairness every comment you make about everything is your own opinion,which is grand.But you do have to have general agreement by lots of other humans before your opinion becomes valid to the rest of us ;))

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Curitiba | May 04, 2012, 06:44 PM EDT

I find it quite sad that people feel that the Irish identity is so weak it is dissolved completely by being born abroad. I have never met a person of another ethnic background that feels that way about their diaspora. That we have no right to live and celebrate our inherited culture abroad. Only Irish people have this attitude, nobody else.

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Curitiba | May 04, 2012, 06:31 PM EDT

I'm not the first, Ciara (my school was stuffed full of them), but I am certainly the most outspoken on this subject. But they spend their time writing to the Irish Post, rather than embracing modern electronic media. For your central argument to hold water, there has to be no such thing as Irish people, only people who live in Ireland. And if that is the case, Ireland is simply a club that anyone can join, and everyone who lives there is just as Irish as each other, no matter if they can trace their ancestors back to the 14th century, or last week. So in that case, I could move back to Ireland, and be just as irish as you in that case. But i don't believe in all that rubbish. The Irish ethnic identity is one of common ancestry. The glue that holds most ethnic groups together and maintain their identity at home and abroad consists of the language, culture and religion. The language is nearly extinct, the religion is gone, and the culture is similar to other European nations, so there is not a lot left to hold Irish communities together beyond the 2nd or 3rd generations.

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ciaradexy | May 04, 2012, 05:11 PM EDT

I know youve missed me but I have 2 jobs and Im studying! Im a very busy person!

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