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back to article Boss of Irish-based R&D hub: Man, this place is the back of beyond

EMC Ireland country manager Bob Savage is distinctly underwhelmed by Cork Airport. There are 3,000 EMC staff in its Ballincollig, County Cork operation and they are managed by Savage who has been in the country manager role for five years. In an interview in the Irish Independent, he says Cork airport suffers from not having …

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  1. Seanmon
    Thumb Up

    sed -i 's/Cork/Glasgow/'

    Third biggest city in the UK (pop. about 650K IIRC) and you can fly to London or to bangin' party town destinations. Usually with Ryanair.

    We kept getting told we're a "premier league" European destination, but not with connections like these. Glasgow airport is probably the handiest airport in Europe for access from the city centre, and what do our fearless leaders do? Axe the proposed rail link. Sigh, it could have been so good.

    [Edit] Actually I just checked and it's not quite that bad anymore. Paris and Berlin have now appeared on a list that previously had Amsterdam as the sole European capital.

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    1. Ross K Silver badge
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      WTF?

      Re: sed -i 's/Cork/Glasgow/'

      Glasgow airport is probably the handiest airport in Europe for access from the city centre, and what do our fearless leaders do? Axe the proposed rail link. Sigh, it could have been so good.

      You can hardly compare Glasgow and Cork in terms of infrastructure.

      The M8 is right next to Glasgow Airport.

      You can walk out the door,get on the motorway and be in the centre of Glasgow in 10-15 minutes...

      The rail link was never needed - if you wanted to get the train, you could get off at Paisley Gilmour (or Paisley St. James if you wanted to cadge a lift off one of the airport parking buses). Scottish taxpayers should be thankful that idea never got off the ground - pardon the pun...

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      1. DrXym
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        Re: sed -i 's/Cork/Glasgow/'

        You can be in the middle of Cork from the airport in 10-15 minutes, assuming it isn't rush hour. Almost a straight run in aside from the roundabout. Rush hour is another matter though because everyone empties out of the nearby business park and it can take 10 minutes to clear the lights at the bottom.

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        1. Ross K Silver badge
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          Holmes

          Re: sed -i 's/Cork/Glasgow/'

          DrXym, I'm more than familiar with both places thanks. I'd prefer to deal with Kingston Bridge traffic - at least that moves during rush hour and you don't have to deal with people who don't know how to use a roundabout...

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  2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

    If he wants someone to get transport services improved in his part of Eire, he should see the Blessed Virgin Mary - she works wonders in that regard.

    (don't Knock it)

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  3. Shasta McNasty
    WTF?

    Alternatively

    They could charter a small plane to take their guests from/to Dublin Airport?

    Ireland has far bigger problems than expanding Cork Airport.

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    1. Al Jones
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      Re: Alternatively

      Actually, a private "Air taxi" service between Dublin and Cork might not be such a bad idea, given the number of tech firms that might take advantage of it.

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  4. My New Handle
    FAIL

    Change of Use - EMCs fault

    Oh noes! EMC site a premises in Ireland. Then, some time later, they change its purpose/use and find that the transport infrastructure is inadequate to that new use. And they expect the country to pick up the tab to re-work the transport just for them? What an almighty #fail on their part. Serves them bloody well right.

    If yer don't like it, yer knows what to do with it fellas.

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    1. Al Jones
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      Re: Change of Use - EMCs fault

      He didn't ask anyone to pick up the tab to rework the transport for them - he is quoted as saying that getting more hi-tech firms into the area might generate enough additional demand that the commercial airlines would actually start to use the already existing infrastructure!

      The airport is already there, it's just badly under-utilized. For flights to Dublin, there's competition between a 2.5-3.5 hour drive versus an hour at the airport, 30 minutes in the air, and and hour to get from Dublin airport to wherever it was in Dublin you really wanted to go to - Cork isn't quite far enough from Dublin to make that route commercially attractive.

      It's 260 Km from Cork to Dublin. The train takes 2.5 hours. It should only take 90 minutes. That would be the best solution for Dublin to Cork traffic, but it wouldn't address the need for US based businesses traveling to Cork - that really does need better DUB-ORK, LHR-ORK or NYC-ORK links. (SFO-ORK probably isn't likely to be on the cards any time soon!)

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      1. Ross K Silver badge
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        WTF?

        Re: Change of Use - EMCs fault

        NYC-ORK

        You're joking, right?

        I believe you can land a 747 at ORK in an emergency - you just won't be able to take off again. Not with passengers and luggage anyway...

        In any case the demand isn't there, despite what some guy in EMC would have you believe.

        I'm sure EMC are rich enough to fly VIPs in on a Gulfstream anyway.

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  5. daveycork

    EMC Corporate Jet Fleet at Cork

    www.irishairpics.com/operator/EMC_Corporation/

    Looks like things aren't too bad after all.

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  6. Daren Nestor
    Flame

    Cork was a political bondoggle

    The only reason there's an international Cork airport is because Micheal Martin was the transport minister and pressured the DAA into supporting what was a tiny regional airport a-la Galway into a European stop at the expense of Shannon. The DAA were all for it because it gave them an excuse to get US Immigration and Customs control into Dublin by running Shannon into the ground. It was, and is, a disgrace. (There is more than one case of an airline enquiring about access to Shannon and being told that they could use Dublin or Cork as their hub)

    As for transport links - the train to Dublin from Cork is €19.99 and takes about 2 hours. There is a direct motorway the entire way from Cork to Dublin Airport also, so that would take about 2 1/2 hours also, so it's not like it's actually in the middle of nowhere. Of course, if the politics of the situation hadn't "shelved" the Limerick/Cork motorway it would be about an hour from Cork to Shannon.

    Well, Shannon is on it's own two feet now, so hopefully it will be able to attract airlines without being sabotaged.

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    1. Daren Nestor
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      Re: Cork was a political bondoggle

      "Of course, if the politics of the situation hadn't "shelved" the Limerick/Cork motorway it would be about an hour from Cork to Shannon."

      I meant to say - "if the financial situation hadn't "shelved" the Limerick/Cork motorway it would be about an hour from Cork to Shannon."

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  7. daveycork

    Nestor, that is idiotic. An international airport has existed here since the sixties. It consistently has higher passenger numbers than Shannon and you call it a small regional airport a la Galway? Laughable.

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    2. Daren Nestor
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      Some information

      Admittedly there was an "International Airport" that mainly served London. But the most dramatic increase of passengers and routes through Cork started in the 90's. I may be wrong about Micheal Martin's role (and in fairness he was never Minister for Transport) but people involved have told me that they approached him to get government backing for a major expansion. (I know, someone on the internet claims to have inside knowledge)

      Even today Shannon has higher passenger numbers and higher freight numbers (and one of the longest runways in Western Europe).

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  8. daveycork

    If you read Savage's comments, there is no mention of "back of beyond". Hardly as Cork was recommended by Lonely Planet as one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit. Also, Ballincollig is a conjoined suburb by the way.

    EMC/VMWare/VCE have been expanding quickly, things can't be too bad. Apple have been here 30 years and are about to go to 3,300 employees.

    Check out www.itcork.ie for details of 300 IT-related businesses in Cork employing over 30,000 people.

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