Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the speakers for attending. They were very informative. I thank Martin Shanahan and all the team for their outstanding work. Theirs is a stellar performance and a stunning endorsement of our country as a place to do business.

I want to hone in on a couple of things. They say all politics is local, so I will keep very local and focus on the real capital, which any Cork members still online should note is Longford. I am aware that the key part of IDA Ireland's future growth involves the advance business solutions. There is one earmarked for Longford. I am anxious to have an update from some on the team on the current position. Maybe they could firm up on the timelines. I raised this matter with the Tánaiste in the Dáil before Christmas. I have to admit there has been huge growth in foreign direct investment, FDI, in Longford, thanks to IDA Ireland. We now have very close to 2,000 FDI-supported jobs in Longford town through Abbott, Technimark, and Avery Dennison. The easy solution is probably to build the advance building solution on land adjacent to one of those companies and let one of them grow. However, there is a huge opportunity for the county and IDA Ireland to acquire a significant land bank and bring in a new FDI company. I hope one of the three aforementioned companies will advance in time. I want to give the witnesses sufficient time to answer that question.

Second, we have benefited greatly from American investment in Ireland. Where does IDA Ireland envisage opportunities regarding emerging economies and FDI investment in Ireland? Those are my two questions. The one on Longford is the priority.