Ambitious plans to grow economy by €28 billion

“The buy-in is already there.”

1,500 new jobs could be created each year for the next decade in South Dublin as part of the council’s ambitious new plan that aims to grow the economy by over €28bn.

The local authority launched their latest economic strategy for the years 2026-2036, which outlines an aim to create 1,500 jobs every year across several sectors, including media, food and technology.

The new strategy also outlines an intention to grow the local economy by €28.2bn – the Gross Value Added of the South Dublin economy is currently estimated to be worth €22.1bn.

South Dublin County Council Chief Executive Colm Ward explained how the council hope to deliver on this ambitious new strategy, which includes further developing sectors where recent successes were identified and noted his confidence that businesses will buy in to the strategy.

SDCC’s Chief Executive stated: “One of the things we are looking at is a food production hub, which is a different angle but it’s complementary to what Priory Market are doing.

“For businesses that want to scale into food production, we’re looking at developing that and we’ve funding set aside in the Capital Programme for that.”

The media sector was another area highlighted by Ward and the strategy outlines it as another main area of growth in the county.

The Dublin Fields project located in Grange Castle is expected to provide South Dublin with almost 5,000 jobs.

The 56-acre media park developed by Lens Media Ltd will add seven soundstages to almost double Ireland’s portfolio via a €215m investment and is expected to entice filmmakers to the region.

Lens Media’s Gary Levinsohn is an Oscar-nominated film producer who has worked alongside the likes of Steven Spielberg and Terry Gilliam and on films such as Saving Private Ryan and Snakes On A Plane.

Levinsohn noted that the new project’s location at Grange Castle is a “slight shift” from other businesses present there, but that they felt it was the best spot for their 24/7 media venture that they hope will bring top-tier future projects to South Dublin.

He said: “We looked at a lot of sites…dealing with SDCC and the local government here changed our minds.”

The jobs created are set to complement other works in the media sector, such as the new 12th Lock Studio in Lucan.

Also included in the strategy are aims to improve public transport, zone land for future development and continue schemes such as Heatworks and village enhancement projects.

Commuters across South Dublin have had strong concerns about the level of public transport available, from full Luas and DART carriages to buses that skip stops due to capacity constraints.

The cancellations, delays and disappointments of projects have added further strain on commuters and the strategy listed the future growth of public transport in the region as “essential.”

SDCC Chief Executive Ward noted that the economic development of the region is “intrinsic to quality of life” in the area.

However, he stated that a lot of the potential growth across public transport, pharmaceuticals and other sectors is dependent on working in tandem with other bodies.

“We have to align spatial planning, infrastructure and investment to make sure they’re all working together towards the achievement of the goals in the strategy.

“Partnership is very important – we have to partner.

“We’re not going to be able to do it on our own.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.