Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the commitment to review it at some point. The amendment was tabled in good faith to see if the scheme can assist the economy and certain sectors of the economy in a beneficial way. I note the Minister's comments on the IDA. Last year was a better year but the Minister must examine this point in respect of the Finance Bill. Just over 2.6% of IDA investment in the State last year went to areas with 50% of the population. While the IDA was able to celebrate a better year, as was Enterprise Ireland, the problem is that the concentration of investment by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland is in Cork and Dublin. In the past, Finance Bills have tried to encourage incentives in certain areas but these did not work out and were detrimental. This is true of section 23 measures in some areas. While it is good for the State that the IDA has had a good year, the issue of regional development has gone off the boil. We should be looking at the Finance Bill to see if we can encourage incentives, not just in certain sectors but also in regions.