Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The focus has to be to move development from the east coast and move investment and jobs into rural areas and the regions. I will be shortly developing an action plan for rural Ireland and I will be happy to take on Deputies’ suggestions for it. All the different Departments will feed into that plan. The Action Plan for Jobs is successful. It sets targets, is measured and is reported on every month. It will be the same for an action plan for rural Ireland.

There are 200,000 jobs planned over the next several years. The target is to have 135,000 of those located in rural Ireland. There will be a real focus on the regions. I, along with the Deputies here, want to see Enterprise Ireland, which does great work in rural areas, and IDA Ireland present rural Ireland as a place where we want to do business. There is much energy and enthusiasm and there are many skills in rural Ireland.