Potential of region explored at high-powered Chamber event

The strength of Athlone and the Midlands region as a location for business was highlighted at Athlone Chamber of Commerce’s annual corporate dinner in the Sheraton Athlone Hotel on Friday last.

The event was themed ‘Positioning the midlands for global opportunity, trade, investment, innovation and economic growth in a changing world’, and chamber president Regina Bushell in her opening address set the tone for the afternoon.

“Athlone and the Midlands should not be viewed simply as an alternative to Dublin. We are a strong economic region in our own right, with our own identify, expertise and potential,” she told the assembled business, political and diplomatic leaders present.

The strength of the region was further evidenced by Robert Kelly, Director of Economics, Statistics and Data, Central Bank of Ireland, who cited figures which showed that employment growth in the Midlands at 23/24% had surpassed the national average of 20% over the past five years.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Helen McEntee spoke of the importance of maintaining political and business relationships with countries across the globe.

Referring to the UK, she admitted: “We’ve had a really difficult ten years, it’s been very difficult post-Brexit”. She said that it has only really been in the last two years with the new Labour Government, that there has been a real shift.

“I can be honest and say that the relationships I now have with my UK colleagues don’t even compare to what they would have been a few years ago."

On America, Minister McEntee said the Government had made the decision to double down on relationship building and had increased Ireland’s footprint in the US by 14%.

During a panel discussion, led by MC Lorcan Allen, Managing Director of Keating Associates, she described US President Donald Trump as “very polite” on her recent encounters with him.

“I think he is a smart man, while we don’t always agree with the choices that he makes, I think that he does think through and knows exactly what he is doing and as most people have said he is a businessman and that is how he approaches a lot of what he does,” she said.

“If we had known that our secret weapon was Shane Lowry, we would have whipped him out last year when things were getting hairy,” she joked.

However, Minister McEntee admitted there would always be an uncertainty. “I suppose one of the biggest challenges with President Trump is that nobody ever knows what’s next.”

On her recent time at the UN General Assembly, she revealed how AI was central to all discussions.

“No matter what meeting I was at this week, from the Middle East to Ukraine, to focusing on trade more generally, AI was to the fore in every single discussion we were having.”

She said while AI presented challenges, there were also opportunities to be grasped.

One of the key objectives of Ireland’s EU Presidency is to focus on the need to heighten competitiveness, through simplifying rules, ensuring a more integrated single market, championing strong trade, reducing energy prices and driving the digital agenda.

Minister McEntee also highlighted the Government’s overall commitment of a quarter of a trillion euro in capital spending between now and 2035.

On foreign direct investment, IDA Executive Director Mary Buckley said the agency’s 51 client companies in the Midlands were responsible for direct employment of 7,500, and an overall employment dividend of 13,500 when related activities were taken into account. The IDA’s sister agency, Enterprise Ireland, has some 179 client companies in the Midlands employing 12,400 people.

Describing the foreign direct investment performance for the first six months of 2026, in which investment commitments rose 6% on the same period in 2025, as “very strong” Ms Buckley said the reasons were obvious.

“We are seen very much as a stable pro-business location. Our access to the European market and the single market is critically important,” she said, adding that Ireland has a great skilled workforce and strong links between academia, business and government.

The IDA employs over 60 people in Athlone, one of its largest locations globally.

“It does demonstrate to our client companies that we see the Midlands and Athlone as a great location to invest, to scale and to live,” she said.

Meanwhile, Robert Kelly, Director of Economics, Statistics and Data, Central Bank of Ireland, outlined what he said was an “amazing” labour market story in Ireland in recent years, with a 20% growth in participation.

However, most recent research showed “a little bit of a softening”, with the country “pretty much topped out” in terms of securing additional participation of Irish people in our labour force.

“We have become very dependent in the last 12-18 months on inward migration to continue to grow in our companies and in our labour market,” he said.

Mr Kelly also outlined Central Bank research which indicated that about one in seven roles in Ireland is classified as at “high exposure” to AI.

He said there will be a period when people will need to adjust their skillsets in the workforce.

The event was attended by UK Ambassador to Ireland Kara Owen; Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Ireland Matej Marn, Ole Egberg Mikkelsen from the Danish Embassy, MEPs Maria Walsh, Ciaran Mullooly and Nina Carberry, Minister of State Kevin Boxer Moran Deputy Micheal Carrigy. Mayor of Athlone-Moate Municipal District Liam McDaniel and other councillors.