Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

is the third largest city in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

and is the capital of Ireland's Mid-West Region comprising the counties of

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...

and

North Tipperary North Tipperary ( ga, Tiobraid Árann Thuaidh) was a county in Ireland. It was part of the Mid-West Region and was also located in the province of Munster. It was named after the town of Tipperary and consisted of 48% of the land area of the t ...

. Traditionally Limerick's economy was mainly agricultural of which a lot of industry in the city was based around due to the city's proximity to the

Golden Vale The Golden Vale () is an area of rolling pastureland in the civil province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. Covering parts of three counties, Limerick, Tipperary and Cork, it is the best land in Ireland for dairy farming. Historically it ...

. Important industries at this time were the bacon industry and

Limerick lace Limerick lace is a specific class of lace originating in Limerick, Ireland, which was later produced throughout the country. It evolved from the invention of a machine which made net in 1808. Until John Heathcoat invented a net-making machine in D ...

which provided much employment. Limerick Port was also the main port on the west of Ireland where much this produce was exported. Today Limerick's economy is driven by a cluster of industrial and business parks located along the

/ Shannon corridor which include the National Technology Park, Raheen Business Park and the

Shannon Free Zone The Shannon Free Zone is a , international business park adjacent to Shannon Airport, County Clare, in Ireland. It is 18 km from Ennis and 20 km from Limerick. It was established in 1959, as the world's first "modern" free-trade zone ...

/ Shannon is also classified as a gateway city as part of the

National Spatial Strategy The National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020 is a twenty-year planning framework, with an aim of balancing social, economic and physical development in the Republic of Ireland. Gateways and hubs The strategy seeks both to prevent the Greater Dublin A ...

Statistics

County Clare, County Limerick and Tipperary as part of the Mid-West region with a population of 473,269 has a GVA of €16,448m (2016). According to the Central Statistics Office, in 2016, the region had a GDP per capita of €42,567. Most of the industry in the Mid-West is concentrated around the Limerick urban area and the

, centred on the

Limerick Suburban Rail Limerick Suburban Rail ( ga, Iarnród Fo-uirbeach Luimnigh) are a group of Iarnród Éireann commuter train services from Limerick Colbert to various other destinations on three different lines. * Limerick – Ennis, calling at Sixmilebridge * L ...

network. The main urban centres in the region are the Limerick urban area (94,192 inhabitants), then

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

(25,276), Shannon (9,729),

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

(8,968),

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles (Roman Catholic parish), Thurles. The cathedral ch ...

(7,940),

Newcastle West Newcastle West () or simply Newcastle (''An Caisleán Nua'', formerly anglicized Castlenoe) is a town in west County Limerick, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city, It is also the county town, and sits on the ...

(6,619). Limerick is the second largest city in the province of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and Ireland's third largest city according to the 2011 census carried out by the CSO. As of 2015, 14,500 people were working in 116 overseas companies in the area, including

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Vistakon Acuvue (from "Accurate view") is a brand of disposable contact lenses made in Jacksonville Florida and Limerick-based Vistakon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Overview Acuvue lenses got their start at Frontier Contact Lens Company, fo ...

(Johnson & Johnson),

Cook Medical Cook Group Incorporated is an American privately held company based in Bloomington, Indiana, and primarily involved in manufacturing of medical devices. It was ranked #324 in Forbes' 2008 America's Largest Private Companies. It has four main divisi ...

Northern Trust Northern Trust Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Chicago that caters to corporations, institutional investors, and ultra high net worth individuals. Northern Trust is one of the largest banking institutions in the Un ...

Lufthansa Technik Lufthansa Technik AG ('Lufthansa Engineering', often referred to simply as “LHT”) provides worldwide maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for aircraft, engines, and components. It is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Headquarte ...

, Optel Vision,

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biotechnology company headquartered in Westchester County, New York. The company was founded in 1988. Originally focused on neurotrophic factors and their regenerative capabilities, giving rise to i ...

Element Six Element Six is a company specialised in providing synthetic diamond, cubic boron nitride and other superhard materials for industrial use.Part of the De Beers Group, Element Six employs over 1,900 people and its primary manufacturing sites are l ...

Molex Molex LLC is a manufacturer of electronic, electrical, and fiber optic connectivity systems. Molex offers over 100,000 products across a variety of industries, including data communications, medical, industrial, automotive and consumer electroni ...

, WP Engine,

ACI Worldwide ACI Worldwide Inc. () is a payment systems company headquartered in Miami, Florida. ACI develops a broad line of software focused on facilitating real-time electronic payments. These products and services are used globally by banks, financial in ...

Edwards Lifesciences Edwards Lifesciences is an American medical technology company headquartered in Irvine, California, specializing in artificial heart valves and hemodynamic monitoring. It developed the SAPIEN transcatheter aortic heart valve made of cow tissue wi ...

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

, Becton Dickinson,

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...

First Data First Data Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company's STAR Network provided nationwide domestic debit acceptance at more than 2 million retail POS, ATM, and Online outlets for nea ...

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

, and

GE Capital GE Capital is the financial services division of General Electric. The company currently only runs one division, GE Energy Financial Services. It had provided additional services in the past; however, those units were sold between 2013 and 2018 ...

Services. There are two main third-level institutions,

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it beca ...

and

Limerick Institute of Technology The Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT; ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Luimnigh) was an institute of technology, located in Limerick, Ireland. The institute had five campuses that were located in Limerick, Thurles, Clonmel, as well as a r ...

which have a combined population of over 20,000 students.

Shannon Free Zone

The

is a site in County Clare, located 15 minutes from

and 20 minutes from Limerick city. Over 7,500 are employed in the business park, making it one of the biggest in the state and a huge employment hub in the region. Companies located there include Avocent, GE Capital, Ingersoll Rand, Intel, Lufthansa Technik, Mentor Graphics, Molex, Shannon Aerospace, Shannon Engine Support, RSA Security and Veritas Software, Genworth, First Names Group, Pepper, and the IDA.

Shannon Airport

Shannon Airport Shannon Airport ( ga, Aerfort na Sionainne) is an international airport located in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland. It is adjacent to the Shannon Estuary and lies halfway between Ennis and Limerick. The airport is the third busiest ai ...

is the key piece of infrastructure in the region and is important for companies in the region to have easy access to other international markets by using the airport. The airport is the 3rd busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland with 1.75 million passengers in 2017.

Business parks

There are a number of IDA business parks in the Mid-West region, including the National Technology Park and Raheen Business Park in Limerick. In

, a business park is currently under development and called Information Park Ennis.

Westpark Shannon

Westpark is a business park set on 40 acres of land in Shannon. The park has approximately 50 companies with 2,000 employees. The project has cost 65 million euro.

National Technology Park

The National Technology Park is located just outside Limerick city adjacent to the Dublin motorway and

. It covers 300 hectares and hosts approximately 80 companies employing 3,000 people.

Service industry

Limerick is the main retail centre in the Mid-West. The

Crescent Shopping Centre The Crescent Shopping Centre is a major shopping centre serving Limerick, Ireland. It is located in Dooradoyle, on the southern outskirts of the city. The complex in its original form was opened in 1973, making it one of the earlier shopping cen ...

in Dooradoyle is the largest shopping centre in Ireland outside of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and the largest in

. The shopping centre expanded in the early 2000s to become one of the largest in Ireland. There are also a number of other retail outlets in Limerick including the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

Infrastructure

Infrastrctural projects in the area include the

Limerick Tunnel The Limerick Tunnel () is a , twin bore road tunnel underneath the River Shannon on the outskirts of Limerick city. The tunnel forms part of the N18 Limerick Southern Ring Road. The tunnel is tolled. Construction Construction was carried out b ...

, which opened in 2010.

References

{{reflist

External links

Mid-West GVA (2005)
Limerick (city)