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

I will give some figures for the regions but I want the Senator to understand that they are regional plans for several counties together, for example, Waterford and Wexford together and the four Border counties are together. I have spent all summer visiting the regions to see how it is implemented and will bring that information to Cabinet and it will then become public. I am passionate that these jobs must go to regional and rural areas. For example, this morning I announced jobs in Dublin. I will be in Limerick on Monday and I was there last week. It is all over the country. We have announced perhaps 1,400 jobs this week alone and I will announce two more sets of jobs tomorrow. It is happening, but perhaps not as quickly as I would like. Some counties are more attractive than others. For example, if there is an airport in a county and if the infrastructure and broadband are good, then it is attractive. The broadband service is not good in some rural areas. I am so sorry that they did not shout much louder during the negotiations when I heard so much about water. I wish that I had heard about broadband from the people in the country who, for the most part, pay for their water.

We have made major announcements in respect of Cork, Limerick, and Carrick-on-Shannon. Waterford is doing very well, as is Dublin. IDA Ireland is bringing more people on site visits. The figure in that regard has risen to 42%. It is very conscious that the Government - in its programme for a partnership Government - has told it to put an emphasis on the regions. I probably speak to Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland every second day. That is the first question I ask them. When they tell me they are going to Dublin, I am almost disappointed because I want them to go to the regions.

I have a breakdown of the figures for 2015. I understand that it is possible to pick and choose counties but, as Deputy Niall Collins knows - particularly as we have spoken about it in my office - we are discussing regions, not counties. This is a Government strategy to ensure that jobs go to the regions. A total of 64% of Enterprise Ireland jobs and 85% of LEO jobs were outside Dublin. We need to promote the LEOs more. They do a good job. They delivered 7,122 jobs in 2015. We hear very little about them because they are so low key in the community and yet they are very important.

We are very conscious that Brexit could have huge implications for Ireland. Senator Davitt spoke about the construction industry. It and the agrifood sector are under pressure in respect of pricing and so on. It is very difficult to deal with that because of the currency fluctuations and the negotiations about when the UK Prime Minister will trigger Article 50. We have to wait because we do not know what they are going to do or what they are looking for. I have been in Brussels and met Commissioners Biekowska and Malmström on trade and internal affairs. They do not know what is going to happen. It is all under negotiation. We are very conscious that we must ensure there is no hard border and no tariffs, that there is a free travel area and free movement of people, goods, capital and services. That all has to be dealt with in the negotiations. All Ministers and the Taoiseach are very conscious of that. The Taoiseach has set up a special Cabinet committee and appointed a special Secretary General, John Callinan, to be in charge of that. I meet Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the senior officials in the Department once a week to go through exactly what we need to do for the future when Article 50 is triggered.

We only give work permits where there are skill shortages. That is decided twice a year. We review the categories of jobs for permits. I will ask the officials in the Department to review the position. We also have received inquiries about lorry drivers. I know that is an issue. Deputy Bríd Smith might be interested to know that one reason for the problem is that many of the drivers in the EU are being very badly paid and the Irish drivers expect much more.

I, too, as a Minister would like drivers to be much better paid but that is the position now. We will review the situation.

Did Deputy Quinlivan ask me a question about hedging?