Mr. Martin Shanahan:

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the increase in FDI in Longford. I believe employment in FDI companies in Longford increased by 16% last year. We hope that increase will continue. As the Deputy has pointed out, it is our plan to build an advance building solution in Longford, along with two others in the midlands, during the lifetime of the strategy, which is in the next three years. We have yet to identify the appropriate site for it. We are engaging with Longford County Council at present to advance the project. My hope is that we can identify a site in the near future that meets everybody's needs, but we have not yet done so.

From our perspective, we want to see happening both of the things that the Deputy mentioned. First, we want to see the existing companies expand. Second, we want to try to attract a new-name investor to Longford. That is what I hope the advance building solution will do. Work is ongoing to identify the site. When that is done, the project will go through the normal planning process and everything else.

Let me address the question on the mix of business and where it comes from. Approximately 70% of investment comes from the United States, about 20% comes from Europe, and about 10% comes from what we term "growth markets", which include the Asia–Pacific region and South America. Within the portfolio, the United States continues to be extraordinarily strong for us. It was very strong during the pandemic, for the past two years, partly to do with US companies' familiarity with Ireland. Ireland was regarded as a very stable investment opportunity during the pandemic, when there may not have been opportunities to do as much due diligence work on the ground. We see a lot of growth from what we term growth markets. The Asia–Pacific region is the main part of that. Within that, China, Japan and India are the main sources. We continue to grow our network of offices in those locations to attract investment.