Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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Enterprise Ireland makes a great effort to show the balance in terms of the regions but there can be regions within regions, as well as different stories between regions. Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, for example, would be part of a region but there is a world of difference between Kildare and Meath, even though both have experienced very strong population growth. One can see that clearly from the commercial rates base of both counties. Admittedly, the figures can be distorted somewhat by one very big employer, but that is not the total explanation. When one looks at Dublin, one sees that the real growth has happened in Fingal over the past 25 years, with more than 100,000 additional people living there now.

It is the fastest growing part of the country. There is a climate aspect to this. People should be able to work closer to home if possible and I am not even talking about people working from home. Does that come into play when Enterprise Ireland considers this type of issue or those subcategories? Are these targeted or limited or is the regional balance simply happening by default?