Kells looks to plug employment gap when Quinn leaves

The need to attract new businesses to Kells, as Quinn Direct prepares to pull out of its temporary premises in the town, has been highlighted by Cllr Bryan Reilly. He has urged the town council and the Kells Enterprise Centre board to press ahead with the second phase of the centre in a bid to attract a major new client to the local business park. Quinn Direct established a temporary office in the Loyd Business Park in Kells while it was awaiting the completion of the company"s new Navan office complex. Initially, the company employed 50 staff in the Kells premises and this has been steadily built up since then to 200. These staff members will be moving to the new Quinn Direct headquarters when it opens in Navan in the summer. According to Cllr Reilly, the 200 jobs which the Quinn Group temporarily brought to Kells has given the town a very welcome boost and raised the high standing of the business park still further among potential developers. 'We have been working closely with head of the Meath County Enterprise Board in promoting the centre. Its facilities were already attracting keen interest from enterpreneurs, even in these difficult times. Let"s press ahead to facilitate them while also working with Enterprise Ireland to attract a new major tenant for the complex,' he said. Quinn Direct has confirmed that the company is due to open its new headquarters in Navan in June. Construction work is almost completed on the 7,000 sq metres call centre building at the IDA Business and Technology Park at Johnstown, Navan, and internal work on the premises is well underway. It is expected that the huge building will be ready for occupation in June. The Navan headquarters has been designed to hold 600 to 700 staff members and the company has confirmed there is some recruitment ongoing. Quinn Direct announced its plans to create 600 jobs in Navan in the summer of 2006 but the project was delayed by several months due to a planning appeal. While Meath County Council granted permission for the two-storey 7,000 sq m call centre and 500 parking spaces on the eight-acre site, this decision was appealed to Bord Pleanala by a local resident. Bord Plenala subsequently upheld the granting of permission for the development, subject to conditions, in July 2007 and work has been ongoing since then. The delay in the construction of the building led Quinn Direct to opening the temporary office at the Kells Enterprise Centre.