New Ross advance factory not being ruled out by Wexford council despite series of setbacks

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Given that he has been waiting over 25 years for an advance factory to be built in the Butlersland Industrial Park in New Ross, Councillor Michael Sheehan could be forgiven for finally abandoning hope.

The most recent development in this longest of sagas came in September 2025 when the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) expressed concerns about investing in New Ross due to “trading tensions” with the US. Previous to that, in December 2024, an investor who was due to commence construction of the factory pulled out of the deal due to an “escalation in construction costs”.

Although council officials have repeatedly said they are still open to discussing plans for the site with new investors and commercial entities, Cllr Sheehan appeared to have finally accepted defeat at the July meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC).

“We have a significant tract of land in New Ross which was previously earmarked for an advance factory, that project has been pretty much mothballed,” he said. “Could we look at that land and put in place a small business park model? It could consist of five or six units with 30–40 jobs per unit with strict criteria about what type of business can go in there.”

Stressing a need for “small micro-enterprises” in south Wexford, Cllr Sheehan suggested a business park similar to that in Ardcavan on the outskirts of Wexford town could be developed in Butlersland.

However, director of planning Liz Hore wasn’t ready to join Cllr Sheehan and move on from the advance factory yet. Although limited in what she could reveal, Ms Hore said she “wouldn’t rule out a proposal for New Ross just yet”.

While reluctant to go into details, she added that a decision would have to be made about the advance factory if any ongoing discussions proved not to be fruitful.

This new comes in the wake of the Integer factory in New Ross announcing it will close for two weeks at the end of July and that its estimated 1500 staff members will go on unpaid leave. On July 7, staff were told that the company will close for a two-week period from Monday, July 27, until Monday, August 10.