Economy of Cork

File:Elysian Cork.JPG

The Elysian under construction in December 2007

This article is about the economy of Cork, Ireland.

Statistics

According to Eurostat figures for 2012, the South-West region has a GDP of €32.370 bn and a GDP per capita of €48,500 (second highest on the island of Ireland, second only to Dublin €57,200).

The South-West region has a labour force of nearly 300,000.

GVA per capita(2005) in Greater Dublin is €42,435, while GVA in the South-West is €40,835, which means that the SW region has the second highest GVA per capita on the island of Ireland.

Most of the industry in Cork is concentrated around the Greater Cork area, taking in Cork city and its extensive hinterland, centred on the Cork Suburban Rail network.

The immediate Cork city area has a population of 150,000 in the city and suburbs, while another 150,000 live within the commuter belt giving Greater Cork a population of 300,000. Important city suburbs are Douglas (25,000), Bishopstown (13,000) and Mahon (12,000).

Important towns within the commuter belt are: Ballincollig (20,000), Glanmire (15,000), Carrigaline (13,000), Cóbh (12,887), Mallow (11,000), Midleton (10,336), Youghal (7,000), Fermoy (7,000), Bandon (6,000), Carrigtwohill (6,000), Blarney (5,000), Passage West (5,000), Kinsale (4,000), Macroom (4,000) and Ringaskiddy.

Some of the companies within this area are:

Pfizer (Pharmaceutical), GlaxoSmithKline (Pharmaceutical), Johnson & Johnson (Pharmaceutical), EMC (Data Storage), Apple inc.(European HQ), Avery Dennison (Financial Shared Services), Siemens Group (Third party multi-lingual tech support) and the Marriott Group (Shared Services and Customer Service Contact Centre), Centocor (Biopharmaceutical Manufacture), McAfee (Security Software, EU Operations Centre), VMware (Enterprise Software and International Support/Shared Services Centre), Clearstream and Amazon.com (Customer Services – On line Retail Activities).

There are two main third-level institutions, University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology which have a combined population of 34,000

Cork CBD

According to the 2011 Irish Census, Cork city central business district has a total employment of 24,092 making it the second biggest CBD in Ireland after Dublin.

Biggest Employers

According to 2006 figures, the top five employers were all public sector which included CUH(Cork University Hospital), UCC(University College Cork), Collin’s Barrack’s, Cork City Council and CIT(Cork Institute of Technology).

Apple Computer were the sixth largest employer followed by Supervalu / Centra Distribution Ltd, Mercy Hospital, Bon Secours and Boston Scientific.

Brewery Quarter

It is a proposed development of the old Beamish & Crawford brewery site. The total cost of the project is 150 million euro, at the heart of which will be a new modern events centre with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Construction of the Events centre will begin end of 2015.

Heineken Ireland/ BAM also plans to build a 360-degree viewing tower, a tourist centre in the former brewery’s Counting House, a seven-screen cinema complex, artists’ studios, retail units, offices and student accommodation.

One Albert Quay

It's a commercial development worth €60m which consists of a 175,000 sq ft One Albert Quay office block on Albert Quay.

Work commenced September 2014 and the office block’s basement, lift shaft and steelwork are already in place.

It is expected to be finished February 2016 and the building will be capable of accommodating 1,700 employees.

Páirc Uí Chaoimh

The famous Cork GAA stadium is undergoing a €60m regeneration to create a modern stadium.

Demolition is expected to last 15 weeks. The project will create 400 jobs in its development.

The stadium will have capacity for 45,000 spectators.

Cork Harbour

An estimated €1bn worth of investment is expected to transform the entire harbour area into one of the world’s greatest maritime and tourism centres over the coming years.

Two of eight projects are already underway — the €40m clean up of the old Irish Steel/ Irish Ispat site on Haulbowline Island and another €40m plan to redevelop Spike Island as a tourist attraction.

I.T & Pharmaceutical Industry

Cork County Hall

Cork city is one of Ireland's most important I.T. hubs with such multinationals as Apple, Amazon, EMC, IBM, McAfee Ireland Limited, SolarWinds, Siemens and VMware INC. The Atlantic Quarter in Cork is a new plan to create a smaller version of Dublin's IFSC in Cork docklands.

Cork has developed into the centre of Ireland's Pharmaceutical industry. Cork (both city and county) plays an ever greater role in the bio-pharmaceutical industry and is successful in fighting off stiff competition from Switzerland and Singapore for inward investments in the bio-pharmaceutical area.. Many of the pharmaceutical companies are located in Little Island, County Cork.

Power generation

Ireland's only oil refinery and oil storage facility are located at (respectively) Whitegate and Whiddy Island in County Cork.

Cork produces 25% of Irelands energy and uses only 13%(2012). Cork has a total of 20 wind farms which combined produce 282.98MW. In June 2010, ESB opened a new 430 MW (CCGT) gas-fired power station in Aghada, on the site of their existing station. These stations now have a combined generation capacity of 970 MW. Bord Gáis Energy plan to open a 440 MW CCGT station in Whitegate in Q3 2010. The ESB also have a number of smaller stations in the Cork area at Marina (Gas – 115 MW), Carrigadrohid (Hydro – 8 MW) and Inniscarra (Hydro – 19 MW).

Approximately 10% of Ireland's gas production comes from Kinsale Head in County Cork, from where it is transported by pipeline across the country. The headquarters for Bord Gáis Energy are located in Cork City.

Retail

Mahon Point Shopping Centre is County Cork's largest shopping center, having opened in 2005. Almost €737 million has been invested in Mahon, Cork, including the new Dual Carriageway N25 extending from Dunkettle Roundabout to Cork Airport & Cork City via a new €137 million tunnel, the Jack Lynch Tunnel, which opened in 1999. Construction began in 2000 when the road network was adequate for the new centre and it opened in 2005 but created bottlenecks between 11:00–19:00 on the Mahon flyover, causing tailbacks as far as the Jack Lynch Tunnel.

List of shopping centres:

Shopping Centre	No. Stores
Mahon Point	60
Wilton Shopping Centre	65
Blackpool Shopping Centre	50
Douglas Village S.C.	50
Douglas Court S.C.	50

Office complexes

There are several large office complexes in Cork. A few of them are:

• Half Moon Street, City Centre
• Penrose Wharf, City Centre
• The Elysian, City Centre
• Linn Dubh, Blackpool
• The Atrium, Blackpool
• Barrack Square, Ballincollig
• City Gate Park, Mahon

Business parks

The larger IDA business parks in Cork City and surroundings include:

Business Park	No. Companies	No. Employees
Little Island Business Park	1,000	15,000
City Gate Mahon	20
Cork Airport Business Park	24

Smaller parks include:

• Cork Business and Technology Park
• Kilbarry Business and Technology Park
• Carrigtwohill Business and Technology Park
• Ringaskiddy Business Park.

See also

• Economy of Dublin
• Economy of Belfast
• Economy of Limerick
• Economy of Ireland

External links

• South-West GVA (2005)