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

I will answer that question because we did not answer Deputy Neville's question. The Deputy asked why some sites were selected for advance facilities. A key component of IDA Ireland's property strategy is that provision for prospective investors, and such facilities were constructed and completed in Athlone and Waterford. When examining the suitability of a site for an advance facility, IDA Ireland looks for the following: overall marketability of the location and ability to align with the potential project pipeline; locations which have third level education institutes; locations which are attractive for new staff to reside in the area; urban centres with the appropriate level of infrastructure to support the development; and urban centres with track records in FDI and EI client performance. If I were to select one of those, the one I keep hearing about when I meet FDI clients is third level education institutes, and they talk about conversion courses and about the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, NIBRT, which is an add-on education course for bio-pharma, and that is really important.

That feeds into Senator Reilly's question about why some areas rather than others are used as hubs. To take the example of Galway as a health tech area, the required experience has been built up over years. The same applies to Limerick which had the Dell plant which closed but it had those human resources, people with that experience, and that is why companies like to invest in that area. Investors like airports and good roads, and that infrastructure needs to worked on in the counties. I am conscious that the Limerick to Cork road needs to be looked at. That has been mentioned to me on a number of occasions and I ask the county councils and those with responsibility for that area in government to make sure it is given priority. In terms of the clusters of development used, Athlone is becoming very popular because of the Athlone Institute of Technology, as is Waterford, which has a good institute of technology. Those in the institutes will meet representatives of the industries that are investing here and they will provide the courses they require. That is very attractive for those industries. We are fighting very hard to get FDI into the country and it makes it easier when we have education institutes that respond to the needs of industries.