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

I congratulate Mr. O'Rourke on his role. I wish him well and am sure his extensive service in the private sector will be a great help to the IDA. I also wish his predecessor well.

I do not want to be overly parochial but I come from an area of Cork East that has long yearned for IDA focus and investment because there were huge issues with long-term unemployment. Youghal was once a thriving hub of light industry around textiles and other areas that, unfortunately, there is no longer a demand for. There was a lot of relocation of labour to eastern Europe. Kodak, Power Products, the famed Youghal Carpets and other employers had about 3,000 people working in the town. Around the mid-1990s, the tide really turned and, by 2005, all of those major employers had left. We have a number of IDA facilities locally that have not really been in use. There are many empty factories, some of them now converted into housing estates. It is a great shame. I do not have to tell IDA board members or officials how much it means to a rural town to have a major employer. Look at what Haleon, formerly GSK, has done for Dungarvan. Eurofins and other employers have come to Dungarvan as a consequence of having that major employer. From a corporate social responsibility perspective, community benefit funds have made a huge difference.

The Celtic interconnector is a huge opportunity. The Celtic interconnector from Brittany, France is landing in Claycastle, Youghal. There are 700 MW of electricity coming with it, in addition to a fibre-optic cable landing on Claycastle beach. That cable, from an employment perspective, sparks my interest in seeing if Youghal can be be a centre for financial services, data centre construction and growth in that area. From my engagement locally, there seems to be more focus at Little Island, which is already jammed with successful businesses. The IDA park is up the road in Carrigtwohill and companies in that area like Stryker and Millipore have thousands of people working there. It has been a huge part of the work IDA has done and the success it has achieved locally. I am looking at that little corner that to me is very important but it is struggling.

I know the board's remit is not necessarily operations but it is strategy. I have seen the success the IDA has had in towns like Athlone, where Mr. O'Rourke has well-established connections. Enniscorthy, Clonmel, Cavan town, Tralee, Castlebar, Monaghan and Sligo all have IDA advanced hubs and solutions facilities. Would the IDA look at that for my home town and the people locally, who are more than deserving of it?