Mr. Martin Shanahan:

There are 24 companies employing more than 10,000 people in County Kildare. It has some of the largest employers in the country, including Intel and HP. We continue to market Kildare. Tying in with Deputy Lawlor’s final question, our interest in Kildare remains because we believe there is development potential and that is why we were trying to acquire a landbank there. Several years ago, we started trying to acquire the landbank in question, which was the subject of a recent Supreme Court judgment. We did that because we believed the land in question was well suited and had significant development potential, given the activity we have already secured in that area. It was a prime location to secure further development. The Supreme Court has made its decision. We have no intention of revisiting those particular lands.

On the costs of both the High Court and Supreme Court cases, the IDA indemnified itself through insurance for the costs of the judicial review of the case in question. The costs are limited to €200,000, which is the excess on the policy. We still require a landbank in the mid-east to win more investment for Kildare and other counties. We will go back to the drawing board now to see what our next step will be to progress a strategic site for development in the mid-east.

Enterprise Ireland is probably closer to Irish companies which have internationalised. If there are Irish companies which have solely set up abroad and never had a presence in Ireland, there are a number of processes where we can capture this diaspora. The Global Irish Network would be one of those. Many of the individuals involved were present at the Global Irish Economic Forum recently in Dublin. Trying to identify people abroad who have a business or some clout in a business is very much the way the IDA works. We are plugged in in those locations where we have a presence, whether that is the US or in Asia, to understand who we might be able to influence. That includes Irish people who are operating at senior levels in those businesses or who have businesses themselves whom we might attract back.