Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank Mr. Clancy and Mr. McElwee for their opening contributions and wish Mr. Clancy well in his new role. I know it is seven or eight months now but in Tipperary we are always impressed and delighted when one of our own gets to such a good and significant role. It is not that Mr. Clancy will have any bias towards his home county but he was talking about regional and rural development and Tipperary and the south east are key areas for that.

The LEOs have done a phenomenal job over the years, particularly in the last two years. Clonmel is a good example of a LEO that has succeeded. Mr. McElwee will be familiar with the Questum Acceleration Centre building in Ballingarrane just outside Clonmel. We are at a point where the companies are growing so fast we do not have space to develop. Conversations are taking place between Tipperary County Council, the LEO, and IDA Ireland to build a second phase of that Questum building so that companies that have expanded can move into a bigger space. Is that a problem the witnesses are seeing across the country or is it unique to Clonmel and Ballingarrane?

The Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, has put aside an awful lot of money to find remote working hubs around the country. We have two remote working hubs with which a LEO assists in Tipperary town and Carrick-on-Suir. Are the witnesses finding that demand for remote working hubs is exceeding the speed at which we are developing them? These remote working hubs provide a huge opportunity to benefit rural areas and regions that have struggled in recent years.

On road infrastructure, we have a strategic road in Tipperary, the N24, which runs from Limerick to Waterford. Mr. Clancy might be familiar with it. There is a proposal to develop this road in the coming years. Post Brexit, is it beneficial to small companies, just as it would be to foreign direct investment, to have good road infrastructure between Limerick and Waterford and Shannon Airport and Rosslare Europort? Does that play a role for companies Enterprise Ireland represents?

We always talk about businesses that have more than ten employees because the LEOs can no longer support them when they grow beyond that. There is also a problem for small FDI businesses that do not get the kind of support they probably need and are left in limbo between IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs. Is there something the Government can do to support or facilitate the LEOs to support these businesses at an early stage? It seems like some of these companies are just left on their own. I know we want to predominantly look after Irish companies but these companies are employing people and may employ more people in the future. Is there something the LEOs or Enterprise Ireland could do to support them?