Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Estimates for Public Services 2016
Vote 32 - Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised)

5:00 pm

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of course I would like to see more. We are pushing regional development. The programme for Government commits to provide an additional €300 million to Enterprise Ireland, the local enterprise offices and Údarás na Gaeltachta over a five-year period. It also contains a commitment to provide €200 million for IDA Ireland over five years. That will help to alleviate the infrastructure deficit. Deputy Donnelly knows that we just did not have money for investment from 2011 until 2014, at least. We were putting money into hospitals, schools and social welfare schemes. Now there is money coming on stream. I assure the Deputy that I will be pushing for more. I will make sure that over the next five years, we get the allocations of €300 million and €200 million to which I have referred.

Deputy Donnelly said there was an issue in Wicklow. I am sorry to hear some investment was lost there. I remind the Deputy that there is a consultative process. Representatives of IDA Ireland meet local authority officials regularly at the regional development implementation groups. They are all there in that mix. I advise the Deputy to encourage the chief executive in Wicklow to push for that and to identify whether there are vacant places where more can be built.

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