Celtic Cubs? Regional Manufacturing in Ireland

The stylised facts of manufacturing at the national level are summarised in order to set the stage for regional and sub-regional analysis since the main focus is on how and why regions deviate from the national benchmark. Some facts on the regional distribution of economic activity are then summarised, drawing attention to conceptual and practical difficulties that arise mainly because published data sources use administrative rather than meaningful economic spatial classifications. Based on the published CIP data for the year 1996 (the latest available data), the structure of manufacturing in the main Irish planning regions is examined. Since the eight planning regions tend to be internally quite heterogeneous, their constituent counties are also looked at, that being the smallest spatial classification available. Within these limitations, and drawing on the research literature of economic geography, what is known of the determinants of distribution and dispersal of manufacturing throughout the Irish regions, is summarised. Combining theoretical knowledge with the empirical data, the spatial pattern of activity is discussed and the more successful and the less successful regions are identified.