John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would still suggest that the regions are coming from a very low base. There is no doubt that the IDA is successful in attracting companies to come to the country. However, once the companies identify Ireland as a place in which to set up, what happens then and who influences that company? They may be influenced by the capital and so on, but others are not. I have been out in the marketplace and I understand the challenges. This is not meant as a political charge against this Government but looking at some of the factories that located in different places, one would almost believe that a constituency would need a Minister to get a visit or a factory. They may visit a number of counties. Politicians and Oireachtas Members, in particular, are often accused of not carrying enough weight even to get a visit. The criteria for arranging these visits and the background to the consideration of the visits needs to be explained in greater detail to the public at large in order that they understand that we are not sitting on our hands with regard to the counties we represent as national parliamentarians. We are not allowing it to be sucked into one centre because we want to see it divided fairly throughout the country, regardless of who represents the different counties or constituencies.