James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Quinn. There is one other key question I want to ask. The Department has oversight of Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, which have quite large budgets of more than €1 billion and €280 million, respectively. Many areas in the Cork East constituency, which I represent, and in other parts of the country that are outside of the greater Dublin area suffer from high unemployment and do not have sources of local employment. I refer to the town of Youghal, from which I originally come. Deputy Sherlock is beside me, and Mallow is in a similar situation, as are Fermoy and other towns in our constituency. They are crying out for investment from IDA Ireland.

Is there room for improvement in terms of IDA Ireland locating in regional towns and trying to bring investment out of Dublin into the regions for more balanced regional development?