IMERC CEO Val Cummins said that 3,000 new jobs could be created in the Irish maritime economy by 2025 in areas ranging from tech start-ups to renewable energy.
A collaboration between UCC, CIT and the Irish Navy, the Irish Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster (IMERC) strives to shore up Ireland’s failure to derive the same economic advantage from its maritime economy as other countries have.
CEO Val Cummins said the objective is to double GDP from the maritime economy from 1.1pc to 2.2pc by 2030.
But this is a far cry from more evolved maritime economies like Denmark, which derives 20pc GDP from its maritime economy.
“We have a target for creating over 3,000 new jobs in the maritime cluster by 2025,” Cummins said.
Words by John Kennedy