Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the amount of work underway in the Department, particularly in the context of the Presidency. The Minister does not get thousands of people protesting outside his meetings but that is not to say his Department is not taking the burden of the Presidency in many areas.

Under subhead A.5, IDA Ireland, considerable damage was done recently to our presence in the US market by the allegations made at the US Senate hearings. I acknowledge that our ambassador responded but given these were political allegations, should the Minister not have dealt with the allegations on a more hands-on basis? Politicians tend to respect politicians. Is he concerned that the 132 investment projects targeted for 2013 and 2014 will be affected?

Deputy Lyons and I recently visited China with the Ceann Comhairle. The IDA's presence in Asia is not what it could be. I recognise that the employment control framework has implications in this regard but we must investigate from where the next wave of industry will come. Does the Minister have any thoughts in this regard?

I will be asking the same question in respect of Enterprise Ireland and about our presence in China and Asia in general from where new industry is emanating.

IDA Ireland approved 144 projects in 2012, some 23% of which were located outside Dublin and Cork. The plan for 2013 is to approve 132 projects for the current year, with 50% of these located outside Dublin and Cork. The figure of 23% suggests we have moved away from the 50-50 split in the context of the Border, midlands and west, BMW, region. How is it proposed to increase the number of projects outside Dublin and Cork from 23% to 50%?