Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I thank the Minister for his reply. Unfortunately, it is the same reply I got from the Minister in March. He told me then that the county council was talking to the IDA about this site. It is a sham and a travesty. I do not know what the Minister has been doing, but he has done nothing since I questioned him on this issue in March. We get the same old answers all the time.

I will tell the Minister what I told him before. At 11%, the unemployment rate in Ballina is twice the national average. A net total of 1,000 jobs have been lost to Ballina in the past nine years. There are more people on the live register in Ballina than in the whole county of Roscommon. It is an unemployment blackspot and what the Minister is proposing is disgraceful.

The Minister told us there have been five site visits since 2003. Where exactly did those people visit? There is no industrial or technology park in Ballina. This saga has been going on for seven years. The Minister had better get his finger out and do whatever he must to sort this out. He is not doing his job for Ballina or north Mayo. It is an utter disgrace.

There are no road projects for Ballina to be found on the NRA website. The N26, incorporating the Ballina-Bohola bypass, should be developed. The Minister should tell the NRA that he wants a road into Ballina. How can industry access Ballina without a proper road? We do not have an industrial site. We need one. The IDA told me in no uncertain terms that companies want to locate where roads, railway and broadband infrastructure exists. They want to locate in industrial and technology parks. Where are those in Ballina? What is the Minister doing about this aspect? There is a €3.5 billion under-spend in the national development plan. We need balanced regional development. How can north Mayo be competitive without essential infrastructure? I want the Minister to give me answers and not the same old stuff again.

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