Economic Development \ Local Infrastructure

Newry is located on the main transport axis between Belfast and Dublin, the A1/N1 EU-designated transnational route. This means it is less that one hour's drive from Dublin International Airport, Belfast International Airport, Belfast City Airport and almost three million of Northern Ireland's population.

Newry is easily accessed from the ports of Larne, Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. In addition, the Newry & Mourne District has its own port at Warrenpoint and rail network links with a station in Newry.

Newry provides some of the best shopping in Ireland, high quality housing, superlative education and public amenities and comprehensive health facilities, including maternity, A & E and specialist renal facilities.

Local Manufacturing Companies

Overview

Newry currently has a broad base of manufacturing companies already operating in the area. These range from electrical giants Glen Dimplex, Scandinavian controlled SCA Packaging Ltd, Synthetic Textiles Ltd, to Norbrook Laboratories Ltd, a company that has achieved exceptional growth since its inception.

1. Norbrook Laboratories Limited (Pharmaceuticals)

2. Newry Building Supplies Limited (Construction)

3. ABP Newry (Meat Processing)

4. Toughglass (Manufacturing)

5. Glen Electric (Manufacturing)

6. SCA Packaging (Manufacturing)

7. FM Environmental (Manufacturing)

8. Haldane Fisher (Construction)

Service Sector

Newry & Mourne District has a vibrant service sector. Information on this sector can be sought through the Link Directory 2007 and by visiting www.linkdirectories.co.uk

Health and Hospitals

Newry and Mourne Health and Social Services Trust

The Newry and Mourne HSS Trust came into being on 1st April 1994 and provides a wide range of hospital community health and social services mainly to the population (circa 87,000) of the Newry and Mourne District Council area.

It also provides services to a number of patients and clients who live outside the area and who receive care on an emergency basis, or at their own request because of the quality of care offered.

Services are provided from a range of facilities and in different settings. Daisy Hill is a modern general hospital, which provides a wide range of in-patient, out patient, day case and investigative treatments and includes a 24-hour Accident and Emergency Service. Minor casualty and a range of "outreach" out patient services are provided in Kilkeel.

Community health and social services are offered in a variety of settings in the community.

The Trust employs over 1700 staff to deliver these services. It recognises the importance of staff and aims to maximise their performance in the delivery of quality services through training and staff development. The Trust is an equal opportunity employer and fully embraces the equality agenda as defined in the policies of the new Equality Commission.

For further information contact:

Mr E Bowyer
Chief Executive
5 Downshire Place
Newry
Co Down
BT34 1DZ

Tel: (028) 3026 0505

Website: www.newryandmournetrust.n-i.nhs.uk

Retail sector

Overview

Newry has a long established reputation as a centre of retail excellence. Over the past 15 years Newry has become one of the fastest growing towns in Ireland. A substantial amount of retail development has been undertaken in this period. Over this 15 year period the town has seen approximately 700,000 sq ft (65,030 sq m) of purpose built retail accommodation developed.

For further information on Newry’s retail experience please contact the Newry City Centre Management Partnership, a body jointly established by Newry and Mourne District Council and Newry Chamber of Commerce & Trade in order to develop and provide Newry as a quality destination in which to shop, engage in leisure pursuits and to do business generally.

Newry City Centre Management Partnership
74 Hill Street
Newry
Co Down
BT34 1BE

Telephone (028) 3025 0303 Fax (028) 3025 0333
Email donna@newry.com or info@newry.com
Website www.newry.com

Newry Variety Market

Newry Variety Market is an institution and for over 100 years the market has operated on Thursday and Saturdays. The market located at the Warrenpoint side of Hill Street has a unique atmosphere.

Transport

Ports

Warrenpoint Port
Warrenpoint is strategically located at the head of Carlingford Lough on the East Coast of Ireland on the borders of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Situated 72km south of Belfast and 115km north of Dublin, Warrenpoint has taken advantage of its favourable geographical position to develop trade to and from both the North and South of Ireland. Particularly strong growth has been achieved in recent years in the importation of timber and steel and animal feed.

Timber is regularly imported from Scandinavia, Canada and the Soviet Union and block stone from the continent. Paper is an area where efficient handling has enabled Warrenpoint Port to obtain the largest market share of any port in Ireland, North or South. In excess of 90% of the paper used for printing newspapers North and South of Ireland is imported through Warrenpoint Port.

The port has a scheduled Ro/Ro Service with daily services to Heysham on the Lancashire Coast.

The port has a diverse range or scheduled services to continental Europe with a twice weekly container service to Rotterdam, a weekly container and general cargo service to Norway, Sweden and Denmark and regular sailings to the Baltic. For further information contact Peter Conway, Chief Executive (Telephone No: 028 41773381).

Other NI Ports

In addition to Warrenpoint Port other NI ports are Larne, the second largest roll on roll off port in the UK, Belfast and Derry. Greenore Port is located close by in the Republic of Ireland.

Click on the map on the right to see a detailed overview of ferries from Ireland to Europe.

Roads

Overview

Newry, located in Northern Ireland, is on the main A1 road linking Dublin to Belfast.
The Environment Minister Mr Malcolm Moss MP officially opened the Newry by-pass on the 28 November 1996. The scheme which took 9 years to fully complete, was constructed in three stages, with the first being completed in 1988 at a cost of £2m. Stage two followed in May 1995 and the third stage at a cost of more than £15m was officially opened on 28 November 1996 as stated above.

However, since then, comprehensive motorways/dual carriageways have been in the process of being completed on the Dundalk and Belfast sides of Newry. With the Belfast/Beechhill section now complete and Ballymac to Cloughogue section due to be completed in 2008, it is hoped that works will shortly begin on the final section, which is the new Newry By-Pass between Cloughogue and Beechhill.

For further information please contact:-

DRD Roads Service
Marlborough House
Central Way
Craigavon
BT64 1AD
Tel: (028) 3834 1144 Fax: (028) 3834 1867
E-mail: roads.southern@drdni.gov.uk
Road Distances from Newry

Bus

There are eight Ulsterbus expresses daily (70 mins), many stopping services, all-connecting with Warrenpoint and Rostrevor as well as Belfast and Dublin. Therefore there is a good bus service between Newry and other centres in the district. Newry bus station has been relocated in Soho Car Park and is now a state of the art facility.

Rail

Newry is situated on the main Belfast (40 minutes) to Dublin (75 minutes) rail line, therefore linking it to the rest of Ireland.
The Enterprise provides 8 services, a 33% increase, which are operated each way Monday to Saturday, starting at 06.45 from Belfast and arriving at Dublin at 9am, while the Dublin Train leaves at 0740. The timings, which were influenced by the market research study, enable business passengers in particular, to undertake a full working day in Belfast or Dublin. The last trains leave Belfast at 20.10 and Dublin at 20.30, with the maximum interval between services being 2.5 hours.

The Enterprise Train stops in Newry on its way to Dublin from Belfast six times a day Monday to Friday, and on the Dublin to Belfast journey.

A new train station in Newry will begin on-site in late 2007/early 2008.

Airports

The above airports are within easy driving distances of Newry and have excellent long and short-term parking facilities.

London is one hour by air from both Dublin and Belfast. Other major European cities are between 1.5 hours and 3 hours from Dublin. There are also direct flights from Ireland to Boston, (5.5 hours), New York (7 hours), Chicago (9 hours) and Los Angeles (12.5 hours). Tokyo is 18.5 hours and Sydney 27 hours flying time from Dublin.
Click on the map on the left to see a detailed overview of flight paths from Ireland to Europe.

Other aspects of local infrastructure

Telecommunications

The development of the European Community S.T.A.R programme (Special Telecommunications for Regional Development) has projected Northern Ireland into the forefront of modern communication technologies within Europe. Newry is one of the regions to benefit from this quality Fibre Optic telecommunications network which facilitates companies who conduct a large proportion of their business through telecommunication channels to benefit from relatively low costs, overheads and broadband.

Industrial Estates

The Industrial Development Board provide industrial sites at the following locations within Newry and Mourne.

The main industrial estate is based at Carnbane and the IDB recently acquired an additional 30 acres at this site. A modern bridge has been built over the Clanrye River to provide access to this new area. Approximately 11 acres of potential industrial development land remains in the old Carnbane Industrial Estate. In addition a Private Properties Developer has recently acquired 40 acres of land adjacent to the Carnbane site, which will facilitate further industrial development.

Guide to Industrial Estates

A comprehensive guide to Industrial Estates in Newry and Mourne is available from the council by contacting the Enterprise Development Unit