Infrastructure

County Monaghan is situated on the N2 the main Dublin/Derry road. The county town of Monaghan, along with Carrickmacross and Castleblayney are linked to the N2 with by-passes.

• Telecommunications
  County Monaghan is situated on a fibre optic ring and the communications service to the area is completely digitised. As a result full service availability including caller identification, three way conversations and call forwarding are available to customers in the area.
  
  For businesses, there is also the option of a lease line with nodes in Carrickmacross and Monaghan. Other data capabilities in the Monaghan region include DSL (high speed) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).

• Enterprise Centres
  There are a number of enterprise centres in County Monaghan which cater for a variety of industries from manufacturing to software development. These centres offer new and existing companies the opportunity to locate in Monaghan at affordable prices. M TEK in Monaghan, Clones Enterprise Centre, Ballybay Enterprise Centre and Castleblayney Enterprise Centre all offer a high quality service to their clients.

• Towns
  
  Ballybay
  There are 186 lakes in the vicinity of Ballybay and the town attracts many French and German fishermen. Ballybay has a number of small companies; a screen printer, an aluminium frames manufacturer, and an engineering works. A factory producing convenience food is soon to be opened. Adjacent to the town there is a Camp Hill Community, one of only two in Ireland. This is a self-sufficient, organic farming and craftmaking community. Ballybay's Development Association is particularly active and is involved in many economic and social activities which are of great benefit to the local economy.
  
  Carrickmacross
  Carrickmacross is a lively market town famous throughout the world for its lace. The town has won a number of categories in the tidy town competition and recently won a silver medal in Europe's Entente Florale competition.

  Two multinational companies are based in Carrickmacross. Producing audio speakers and specialised floor covering respectively, mainly for the export market. A local company uses Carrickmacross clay to make chimney pots, ridge tiles and terra-cotta urns for local and export markets while another company makes ready-made meals for the UK market. There is also meat processing, the manufacture of plastic tanks and other indigenous industries in the area.

  Click here for more information on Carrickmacross >>
  

  Castleblayney
  Castleblayney has County Monaghan's largest lake, Lake Muckno, Hope Castle, (whose former owner discovered the world's largest diamond, the Hope Diamond), and a forested island. The Black Island within its town boundary.

  The area has furniture manufacturers, insulation, plastics and construction companies, cold storage facilities, a printing company, a steel factory and many small indigenous companies as well as a local co-op for the farming community. A local enterprise initiative will soon see the opening of a new food processing plant, which will produce ready-made meals.

  Click here for more information on Castleblayney >>
  

  Clones
  Clones is one of the oldest towns in Ulster and has three national monuments; a 6th Century Abbey, a 9th Century Round Tower and an 11th Century Celtic Cross. The Diamond in the town's centre is now a familiar sight to cinema buffs worldwide after the huge success of the film The Butcher Boy, which was based in the town.

  There are two meat processing plants in the area one of which produces Billy, the laughing sausage which is exported to England and Germany. A company producing pressurised containers for bulk haulage also focuses on the export market, selling containers to Scandinavia and Malaysia. There is also furniture and plastic manufacturing and poultry processing as well as other indigenous industries.
  
  Monaghan Town
  Monaghan is the county town and has an impressive Cathedral and Courthouse. Much of the county's furniture industry, poultry and mushroom production is focused in the town and the surrounding, areas and there is also a local co-op. Two of Ireland's biggest timber frame construction companies are located in the area with well established home markers and a healthy export trade.

  Monaghan town also has many other indigenous industries as well as two computer assembly plants manufacturing for home and foreign markets. Complementing this business activity the town has a thriving services and banking sector.