ATHLONE CHINESE HUB

robinstown

Hi does anyone know when is it starting or who has the contract of construction

BoB_BoT

I'm not much up to date on this, but the last I heard anything about it was early December, it was only planning permission that was granted, not sure if there's confirmation it will actually be in Athlone.

Mearings

The Chinese will be flocking to the birthplace of Count John McCormack.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Mearings wrote: »

The Chinese will be flocking to the birthplace of Count John McCormack.

She's a tasty spot, that Row Inn Row

demanufactured

whos to say anyone here will get the contract to build it?
more than likely they will bring tgeir own workers to build it.

athlonelad

demanufactured wrote: »

whos to say anyone here will get the contract to build it?
more than likely they will bring tgeir own workers to build it.

Hope it goes ahead. Town could really do with the boost.

athlonelad

athlonelad wrote: »

Hope it goes ahead. Town could really do with the boost.

Agreed, the place could do with jobs, but this type of "trade centre" is geared to taking jobs away from Ireland, not bringing therm in!

I still think it's pie in the skie!

cherryghost

Too little too late tbh.

athlonelad

cherryghost wrote: »

Too little too late tbh.

Its not exactly little. Its proposed to be a huge development. Fingers crossed it goes through to construction stage. It would really put the midlands on the map nevermind just Athlone

demanufactured

Lol athlonelad doesnt get it

There wont be any irish working in the construction of it.

athlonelad

demanufactured wrote: »

Lol athlonelad doesnt get it

There wont be any irish working in the construction of it.

And where did you see this in your research? If it does go ahead there will be Irish working on it.

boredatwork82

It'll be a lovely little mini property Bubble.
Not sure about the jobs, but I am hoping there will be finance jobs in it in the end.!

athlonelad

boredatwork82 wrote: »

It'll be a lovely little mini property Bubble.
Not sure about the jobs, but I am hoping there will be finance jobs in it in the end.!

Better lock the dog in. Do Chinese still eat dogs?

Bababa

Sounds great.... A Chinese slave labour camp for producing the latest round of head shop highs and sub standard goods. And all with a guaranteed Irish tag on it!!

Zubeneschamali

Bababa wrote: »

A Chinese slave labour camp...

They are not going to try and make anything in Ireland, this is just a shop-window.

Jesus Shaves

some awful racist comments in here
It doesn't matter who will be working at it, It will still create jobs and generate more income in Athlone. People will still be paying tax to the government. Who cares of that is from an Irishman, Chinaman or a chimpanzee, Revenue is revenue!

athlonelad

darokane wrote: »

some awful racist comments in here
It doesn't matter who will be working at it, It will still create jobs and generate more income in Athlone. People will still be paying tax to the government. Who cares of that is from an Irishman, Chinaman or a chimpanzee, Revenue is revenue!

Wouldn't call it racism. The main reason I would like to see Irish working there is because at present would have a huge surplus of labour. We don't need to import workers we have excess here. Get some off the dole.

Jesus Shaves

athlonelad wrote: »

Wouldn't call it racism. The main reason I would like to see Irish working there is because at present would have a huge surplus of labour. We don't need to import workers we have excess here. Get some off the dole.

Small minded comments so, I'd say the majority of people working on the construction of this will be Irish, I don't know of any Chinese developers in Ireland!

athlonelad

darokane wrote: »

athlonelad wrote: »

Wouldn't call it racism. The main reason I would like to see Irish working there is because at present would have a huge surplus of labour. We don't need to import workers we have excess here. Get some off the dole.

Small minded comments so, I'd say the majority of people working on the construction of this will be Irish, I don't know of any Chinese developers in Ireland!

Not at all. If we can get a couple thousand off unemployment all the better. Does not matter if they are Irish or not to me. All I'm saying is we don't need to import labour. We have enough on the dole here that could do the job.
Not everything is about race. This is simple economics

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

athlonelad wrote: »

Not at all. If we can get a couple thousand off unemployment all the better. Does not matter if they are Irish or not to me. All I'm saying is we don't need to import labour. We have enough on the dole here that could do the job.
Not everything is about race. This is simple economics

Triple Post!!!!!:p

I'm quite cynical about this going ahead myself but whatever about the long term, the fact of the matter is that it would provide construction jobs for people in the short term. And they wouldn't be depatriating a couple of thousand Chinese workers to Ireland in order to build it.

This could only be good for Athlone, it would give the town a real boost and possibly propel it further towards City status. I can't see where all the negativity is coming from.

force eleven

And its a go from An Bord Pleanala. So when will construction actually start?

And what about Tubber airport? Green light for this?

Neworder79

And what about Tubber airport? Green light for this?

It's a nice idea for locals who think that airports decent from the sky and run themselves. But who would pay to build and run this airport, will the backers of the Chinese Hub do so and subsadise it's operating costs?

Even if there is backing to build it have we learned nothing from the closure of services at Galway and Sligo, and huge debts and collapse in business at Shannon and Cork (far larger City regions). Small regionals couldn't survive in this country without major taxpayer subsidy, and the proximity of so many airports in this country meant they still failed.

The runway and support infrastructure required to provide ultra long haul Asian flights would cost far more to run and maintain. It would also stunt the chances of Dublin growing as a hub, like the Shannon stopover years.

The three longest runways in the country are with 1.5 hrs of Athlone, Dublin with the critical mass of major airlines and direct Motorway and Rail connections, a well established and growing US/European & Asian hub and new Terminal.

Shannon has established US and UK hub connections and is badly in need of new traffic to fill it's ample long haul infrastructure which has had millions of taxpayers investment over the decades.

Ireland West is also nearby and growing into a busy low cost base with a wide UK and European network, planned road improvements on the N5 could bring journey time below 1hr.

Dublin 132Km M50/M6 1:20
Ireland West 95Km N81/N5 1:20
Shannon 134Km M18/M6 1:36

wetminger

This sounds like such a load of old cobblers - it has white elephant/ghost estate written all over it. Has anyone actually signed up to operate from this badly connected architects wet-dream or is it purely aspirational? Its actually pretty funny that Athlone (or anywhere in Ireland) has been identified as the missing link between Europe and China!

blowtorch

wetminger wrote: »

This sounds like such a load of old cobblers - it has white elephant/ghost estate written all over it. Has anyone actually signed up to operate from this badly connected architects wet-dream or is it purely aspirational? Its actually pretty funny that Athlone (or anywhere in Ireland) has been identified as the missing link between Europe and China!

Of course it's a load of cobblers. Just in time for the run up to the Referendum.

But here's a thought - the Casino and Leisure Complex for Two Mile Borris. Now, if Chinatown was to be a runner, wouldn't it make more economic sense for the TwoMileBorris'ers to move to Athlone?

nice_guy80

the only way this would makes sense was if it was beside Shannon or Knock

The Scawgeen

We'd sell our souls to anyone if the price was right.

Lapin

Where abouts is the proposed hub actually located ?

What road out of Athlone ?

As for the jobs debate above, I believe most of the employees in the venture will be Chinese,
but with such a large scale project, there is bound to be a positive spin off locally.

As an East Galway person, I welcome it.
Oppotunities like this don't come around too often.

Milk it for what its worth I say !

wetminger

There wont be any jobs, this will never see the light of day so I wouldn't waste your breath peoples.

martin1

And I herby sayth that neer a block shall there be layd there and doth shall it always remain a field full of cows......so sayth my prediction

Confusious

martin1

martin1 wrote: »

And I herby sayth that neer a block shall there be layd there and doth shall it always remain a field full of cows......so sayth my prediction

Confusious

+1

Developers pipe dream, they're hoping that others (the Chinese or Irish Government) will fund it, they're stuck with a load of land bought at tiger prices!

The Scawgeen

Is there any truth in the rumour that the fake cigarette manufacturers and fake Nike merchants are being touted as anchor tenants