John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)

I did not mean to get into this today but I will since the topic has arisen. On jobs and visits, taking Offaly on its own or Laois-Offaly, this year Offaly did not get one visit from a potential IDA client for the county. Laois, a neighbouring county, had one yet Galway, as mentioned, had the highest number. We have a situation where the jobs are following the jobs. This year there have already been seven or eight visits to Galway, where there are 24,000 jobs. In Offaly, which had zero visits, we have 1,400 jobs and in Laois, which had one visit, there are 145 jobs. The counties with the least number of visits are getting the least number of jobs. There is a direct correlation there. A question I have, which I do not expect the witnesses to answer today, is: what will they do to try to address that imbalance to ensure there is not only that regional development piece but there is also that county development piece to ensure it is balanced too?