Minister Alan Dillon has met with Ireland West Airport officials to discuss progress on the Strategic Development Zone announced earlier this month.
The proposed strategic development zone will support up to 6,000 jobs and boosted tourism as Ireland’s only economic SDZ outside an urban area beside an international airport.
Four developments have received permission under the SDZ Planning Scheme including an airport expansion area, a hotel and conference campus, a business and enterprise campus, and a maintenance repair and overhaul sector.
A Government-funded Roadmap due by August 2026 identified ways to capitalise on the zone’s location and planning certainty while outlining required financial support.
Mayo County Council pressed for the SDZ’s designation as a priority in the National Development Plan to unlock its growth potential in the North West.
Alan Dillon shared: “I am pleased to say that, to date, four developments have been granted permission under the SDZ Planning Scheme. This document will seek to identify ways to capitalise on the unique location of the SDZ and the planning certainty that the SDZ designation offers, while also setting out any financial or other support required. Its development would align with broader objectives around the delivery of balanced regional development, as set out in Project Ireland 2040, and regional economic growth as set out in the Programme for Government 2025.”
Uisce Éireann has affirmed its commitment to working with Mayo County Council to ensure the ongoing and future servicing of the Airport and the SDZ. Once we have a clearer understanding of the SDZ’s development, questions of sequencing of associated infrastructure and consideration of how best to leverage surrounding enabling infrastructure can be considered in the context of that roadmap.”
