Dr. Deirdre Garvey:

I will take the Deputy's first question on Paddy McGuinness, the previous chair, and balanced growth. With two different chairs, one may have different perspectives on this. It is important to recognise that there are disparities in regional development. There are disparities in employment, incomes, growth areas and even within the region itself from Donegal, Clare to Galway. It is also important to recognise that in the 2015 to 2016 analysis of the census there has been a period of population growth in many of those counties. We are now seeing for the first time since the census, a population decline in three of those counties, against the national average. It is important to recognise the disparities. I take the view that balanced regional development is a national issue; it is not just an issue for these counties.

We are focusing on the attractiveness and the strengths of the region and developing sectors that are indigenous and sustainable to the region in the long term - for instance, in the creative sector, I refer to the Western Regional Audiovisual Fund, WRAP, fund, which continues to grow. There are small business within that sector that support even smaller businesses and enterprises.

There have been changes. Has it magically changed? There are still disparities. We recognise those but we are focusing on ensuring to build on the positives and the strengths of the region in many of those areas. As the acting chief executive outlined, there has been a very positive impact on many of the areas across a number of sectors. WDC looks across the investment fund, in particular, the region and employment as well as the sector it is in to ensure a balance within the region. We are very aware of the Galway-centric growth and how we can focus on a distributed element of that growth.