Drogheda and District Chamber of Commerce, Love Drogheda Business Improvement District (BIDS) and The Mill Enterprise Hub are working together to highlight the skilled population that resides here, and the opportunities to develop new startups, scaling companies, and to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the Greater Drogheda region.

_{The Census 2016 figures confirmed that there are 15,000 highly-skilled commuters leaving Drogheda every day – that is a massive 42% of the entire available workforce.}

_{We believe that Drogheda is uniquely placed to offer a complementary solution to Dublin’s business infrastructure. Our proximity (30 minutes to Dublin airport), lower housing and office costs, quality of life, and most importantly, access to skilled employees will enable us to offer a very attractive option to start and grow a business here. The Financial Times identified Drogheda as one of the Top 10 Micro European Cities in their 2018/2019 Report.}

The recent Covid crisis has highlighted to many commuters the financial, mental, familial, and community benefits of ending a commute that can subsume up to 6 days per month, and ‘cost’ circa 30% of the average salary (if you were paid for travelling time).

From 1991 to 2016, the population of Drogheda and adjacent Laytown / Bettystown / Mornington region grew from 27,208 to 52,828 people, a 94% increase (CSO figures). The population within a 10km radius of Drogheda town centre is circa 80,000 people making it one of the largest populated zones in Ireland, conveniently located on the Dublin to Belfast M1 motorway.

The most recent 2016 census highlighted that Drogheda is the largest populated town in Ireland (40,956 people) AND the fastest growing town with a 6.2% growth rate.

We competed an analysis of the 2016 Census figures, and in addition, 828 commuters completed a survey in February and March 2020 that emphasised how local residents are tired of the daily commute to Dublin and would love to use their strong skills locally.

The Commuter survey result included:

• 55% were dis-satisfied or very dis-satisfied with their current Commute
• 75% are interested or very interested in working locally.
• 50% would take a salary cut to work locally; up to 15% salary cut was the preferred option.
• 48% of respondent were in middle or senior roles (24% Manager or Senior Professional, 24% Professional)
• Strong response from commuter with highly-valued IT skills – 109 respondents had skills in ‘Data analytics’, with 107 employed in ‘mobile tech’, and 75 respondents with ‘cloud computing’ skills.
• The majority were commuting to Dublin City Centre (35%) with another 20% commuting to North Dublin
• 50% drove a car with no passengers to work
• 65% departed for work before 7:30am
• 50% took more than 60 minutes to commute
• 35% spend more than €350 per month commuting
• 6% said they were self-employed. 8 people employed more than 50 ftes.
• 53% of respondents were unaware of local Enterprise hub
• 64% said they could work remotely up to 2 days per week.