Mr. Declan Hughes:

I thank the Senator for his good wishes and for the questions. Figures from the January labour force survey indicate that nearly all regions are at or below the State unemployment average of 3.84%. I mentioned the south-east region, which is now at 3.7 %. That is very significant as there was always a gap of 2% or 3% between the south-east region, the west region and the north-west region. There would have been a gap in the mid-west region previously as well.

There are two parts to this. The first was getting to where we are and the second is the significant upgrading of the industrial base in every region. That is where we have specific initiatives around regional enterprise plans, which are linked to the national planning framework in terms of population growth, where the jobs of the future are going to be and how we ensure we are supporting entrepreneurship and supporting entrepreneurs to develop and scale their businesses. As mentioned, Revenue is now saying we have 2,800 Irish multinationals which are in Ireland and trading internationally. We want those to be coming from all regions and we need to support those businesses to grow and scale from the regions. It is also about having that continuous flow of new technology coming from the universities and technological universities that are being developed within the regions. They can act as an attractor and to upgrade the FDI base in the regions as well.

The Senator will have seen some of the recent announcements, such as Dexcom going into Athenry and Eli Lilly into Limerick. Significant investments are being made by companies such as Listal in Kerry and Cork and again in the south-east region. We are certainly not resting on our laurels. Significant upgrading is now needed. That is where we have regional enterprise plans and a smart specialisation strategy. That is really important as well. We are focusing on what sectors and technologies are really important and the clusters we can develop in particular regions for the future. That is in addition to managing the climate transition, for example, in the midlands region to ensure that is a just transition and we expose new opportunities in renewable energy. That is happening right around the coast.

As I mentioned, the launch of the Shannon Estuary task force on Saturday was a very significant landmark for the mid-west and for the southern region. It is also the start of exploiting the full potential for offshore wind as well as onshore value-added activities, whether that is hydrogen, green energy or grid connections. It is also about the users and where the demand would be for that clean and green energy into the future. That is coming on stream from 2028 to 2030. Some of those proposals from the Shannon Estuary task force were around the new wave of data centres and the new wave of pharmaceutical and ICT businesses but also around transitioning our manufacturing base and many new opportunities in terms of ammonia, etc. There are lots of opportunities for the future. We are focused on the medium to longer term and ensuring we have the jobs for the extra 1 million people that will be in the country over the next ten years.