Building the Future: How County Monaghan Is Quietly Becoming One of Ireland's Most Enterprising Counties
From digital hubs to agri-food innovation centres — the Farney county's business infrastructure story is one of the most compelling in the country right now.
From digital hubs to agri-food innovation centres — the Farney county's business infrastructure story is one of the most compelling in the country right now.
There is a version of County Monaghan that exists in the national imagination — border county, rural heartland, GAA mad, mushroom capital of Ireland. All of that is true, and none of it should be understated. But there is another Monaghan story unfolding in 2026 that deserves much wider attention: the story of a county that has been quietly, methodically, and with serious ambition, building the kind of business infrastructure that sets places up for a generation of growth.
If you live here, work here, or are thinking of starting a business anywhere in the Farney county, this is a story you need to know. Because the foundations being laid right now — in Monaghan Town, Carrickmacross, Clones, Emyvale, Ballybay, Castleblayney, and Newbliss — are going to shape what this county looks like for the next twenty years.
Enterprising Monaghan: A Organisation That Walks the Walk
Start with the numbers, because they are genuinely impressive. Enterprising Monaghan — the county enterprise fund established back in 1988 with a view to supporting and promoting entrepreneurship and economic development — has practically doubled its activities since 2020. It now hosts 65 tenant businesses across 11 sites in the county. Those businesses, between them, employ approximately 650 people across Monaghan.
That is not a minor statistic. In a county of Monaghan's size, 650 jobs across enterprise hubs — jobs that are spread across the county rather than concentrated in one location — represents a genuine distributed economic engine.
CEO Finbarr Daly outlined the picture at the organisation's recent AGM, held at the newly refurbished Nuremore Estate by McGettigans in Carrickmacross: a growing property portfolio that includes M:TEK 1 & 2 in Monaghan Town, C:TEK 1 & 2 in Carrickmacross, Emyvale Business Centre, Clones Business and Technology Park, Newbliss Digi Hub, and in Ballybay, the Food Hub, Wetlands Centre, and the Farmhouse and Mews at Birchcourt. Eleven sites. Eleven anchors in communities right across the county.
Both the C:TEK 2 Business Centre and the Newbliss Digi Hub were reported as now fully occupied — a clear signal that demand for quality, affordable business space in Monaghan is not being met passively; it is actively growing.
M:TEK and the Digi Hub: Where Monaghan Town's Business Future Lives
If you haven't visited the M:TEK campus on the outskirts of Monaghan Town, it is worth a look. M:TEK 1 houses the Enterprising Monaghan Digi:HUB — a co-working and digital workspace facility that has become a genuine community for local entrepreneurs, remote workers, and growing SMEs. The building offers 14 hot desks equipped with uncontended broadband, meeting rooms, training spaces, and canteen facilities. Access is flexible. Costs are affordable. And the atmosphere is exactly what you want from a shared workspace: collaborative, professional, and alive.
M:TEK 2, next door, is a 34,500 square foot, three-floor modern office building — fully fitted, fibre broadband throughout, ample parking, and positioned for businesses that have grown beyond the hot-desk stage and need a proper base. Both are managed by the Enterprising Monaghan team, which means tenants get more than just a desk or an office. They get access to business mentoring, grant support, introductions to the Local Enterprise Office, and a network of fellow business owners across the county.
The value of that network is something Dora MacElwain, who manages the Digi:HUB and C:TEK in Carrickmacross, has spoken about directly: "We really welcome start-ups, and we work with SMEs and entrepreneurs in many ways. If you have a problem of any sort, you can come to us. We may not have the answer, but if we do, we'll give it to you, and if we don't, we'll certainly signpost you in the right direction."
It is that culture of signposting, of knowing the landscape, and of genuinely wanting local businesses to succeed, that makes the enterprise hub network more than a property play. It is an ecosystem.
Local businesses that have used the M:TEK hot desks include digital designers, software developers, and consultants who previously faced long daily commutes to Cavan or Dublin. The flexibility of working locally — with professional infrastructure — has changed the calculus for many of them. As one hot desk user put it simply: "It's good to get out of the house. You just come in and plug in."
Local Enterprise Week 2026: The County Showed Up
In early March, the Local Enterprise Office Monaghan ran its 2026 Local Enterprise Week — a full programme of free events held from the 2nd to the 6th of the month that drew strong attendance and genuine positive feedback from businesses across the county.
The week delivered a varied mix: digital training, manufacturing and engineering collaboration sessions, a Women in Business event, and a Grow Digital Breakfast Morning hosted at M:TEK 1, aimed at helping SMEs understand the range of digital funding supports available to them. The Monaghan Institute Open Day drew LEO staff to engage with the next generation of entrepreneurs coming through.
What stood out about the 2026 programme was the breadth and accessibility of it. The events weren't pitched at a narrow slice of high-growth tech startups. They were designed for the full spectrum of Monaghan's business community — the manufacturer in Castleblayney, the café owner in Clones, the tradesperson in Carrickmacross weighing up whether to take on an extra member of staff. That inclusivity is important. Enterprise policy that only works for a specific type of business ultimately leaves most of the local economy behind.
Pamela Kerr, Head of Enterprise at LEO Monaghan, has consistently championed the idea that support should reach businesses at every stage and in every corner of the county. The 2026 week was a practical expression of that.
BioConnect: Monaghan's Most Ambitious Project in a Generation
The most strategically significant project in Monaghan's current economic story is probably the BioConnect Innovation Centre, located just outside Monaghan Town. Backed by Enterprise Ireland, Monaghan County Council, and a consortium of the county's most significant agri-food employers — Monaghan Mushrooms, Lakeland Dairies, Manor Farm, and Silver Hill Foods — BioConnect is a purpose-built agri-food research and development facility designed to do several things at once.
It will develop new skills and opportunities within the agri-food sector in the North East. It will attract highly skilled graduates and researchers back to Monaghan — scientists, biotechnologists, fermentation experts — who might otherwise have headed to Dublin or overseas. And it will provide the R&D infrastructure that Monaghan's existing food businesses need to keep innovating and competing in an increasingly complex global market.
Ronnie Wilson, founder of Monaghan Mushrooms, spoke compellingly about the project when accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award at the Monaghan Business & Tourism Awards in April: "We want it to attract science graduates back to Monaghan, to undertake research, to understand the role biotechnology can play in the future of food, and to provide research and development services to local existing agribusinesses." He noted that BioConnect had already recruited its first team members, including a fermentation expert from Carrickroe whose grandfather was among the first mushroom growers with Monaghan Mushrooms nearly 50 years ago.
That detail — the grandson of a mushroom grower coming home to work in a cutting-edge biotech lab — captures something important about what BioConnect represents. It is not trying to replace Monaghan's agricultural heritage. It is trying to build on it.
The Clones Digi Hub: Coming to the West of the County
One of the most eagerly anticipated projects on the near horizon is the planned Digi Hub in Clones, which will be housed in the town's former Bank of Ireland building. The initiative is a collaboration between Monaghan County Council and Enterprising Monaghan, funded under the EU PeacePlus cross-border programme, with the goal of bringing digital skills, workspace, and connectivity to a part of the county that has historically had fewer such resources.
Clones is a town with deep pride and real character — home to St Tiernach's Park, a vibrant GAA culture, and a community that punches well above its weight. The Digi Hub will add a genuinely new kind of facility to its centre, connecting local businesses and individuals to digital skills training and a network of like-minded people across the hub network.
For businesses in the west of the county — and for anyone considering setting up in Clones or the surrounding areas — this is a significant piece of incoming infrastructure.
What This All Means If You're Running a Business in Monaghan
Taken together, the picture is striking. A county-wide network of enterprise hubs, now fully occupied and expanding. A world-class agri-food research centre opening for business. A new digital hub coming to Clones. A Local Enterprise Office running free, accessible programmes year-round. A freshly established Business & Tourism Awards that has already created a platform for local businesses to gain recognition.
This is not a county waiting for someone else to invest in it. It is a county investing in itself.
If you are thinking about starting a business in Monaghan, or growing one, or relocating here — the infrastructure, the support, and the community are in better shape than they have arguably ever been. The LEO at M:TEK in Monaghan Town is the first port of call for grants, mentoring, and guidance. The Enterprising Monaghan hubs offer workspace across eleven locations. BioConnect is open for agri-food partnerships. And this directory is here to connect you with the businesses, services, and opportunities that make up the fabric of commercial life in the Farney county.
The future of Monaghan business is being built right now. You're invited.
Looking for a workspace in County Monaghan? Thinking of starting a business? Browse our directory listings for local enterprise hubs, business services, and supports across the county — or contact LEO Monaghan at M:TEK Building, Knockaconny, Monaghan Town.
Tags: Monaghan business, Enterprising Monaghan, M:TEK Monaghan, Local Enterprise Office Monaghan, BioConnect Monaghan, digital hub Clones, Monaghan enterprise hubs, start a business Monaghan, Monaghan co-working, Carrickmacross business, Monaghan economy 2026, Clones Digi Hub, Monaghan Mushrooms