Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this Bill. The Minister outlined the purpose of the Bill, which is in accordance with the new mandate for Shannon Development announced by him in July 2005. The indigenous industry functions carried out by Shannon Development under delegated authority from Enterprise Ireland will revert to Enterprise Ireland on 1 January 2007. I commented on this decision when it was first announced by the Minister. Shannon Development is the most successful regional agency in this country and was the only integrated regional development agency.

We examined regionalisation when it was the buzzword in the 1980s and early 1990s. At that time, Shannon Development was held up as an example of how a regional agency should be structured and managed. Its role was deemed to be the proper role for a development company. As the Minister stated, "For more than four decades, initiatives developed and delivered by the company have been adopted and reproduced successfully in Ireland and internationally." Why break up something so successful? I am all for change and I realise we must adapt our strategies and structures to measure up to the competition and be more efficient. However, is it the right decision in this instance? I question the motivation for the decision and will ask questions on the real motivation behind the dismantling of Shannon Development.

The Shannon region, particularly the Ennis-Shannon-Limerick axis, is one of the most dynamic parts of the country. Before the present boom was experienced in Dublin, the Shannon region was always held up as a shining example. Despite what happened in the rest of the country, it was always successful even during the bad times of the 1980s. Because of the airport and the University of Limerick, Shannon Development attracted some of the first electronic, technology and pharmaceutical industries into the region.

Although some people would state otherwise, I always regarded Shannon Development as an extremely dynamic instrument for development in the area. Without its presence, I doubt the greater Shannon region would be as vibrant as it is today. The executive and the board of Shannon Development will do what the Minister tells them. However genuine concern exists within the organisation about its reduced role.

In the late 1980s, I promoted the idea of Shannon Development taking over responsibility for north Kerry, where it made a major impact. It created Kerry Technology Park in Tralee, which is on the same site as the institute of technology. The successful synergy operating between the college and the technology park spawned some of the country's top entrepreneurs.

Recently, Jerry Kennelly developed a product, Stockbyte, which he sold on for approximately €130 million. At the Entrepreneur of the Year competition, Alan Scroope was recognised as one of the top young entrepreneurs. The park has several success stories and would not be there without Shannon Development.

In Listowel, Shannon Development created a business park where most of the units are now occupied. The money for this came from the rental of its own property portfolio. It was not Government money although I see Ministers coming to Kerry and claiming responsibility.

Because of the break up of Aer Rianta, a Shannon airport authority will be created. As a subsidy from Aer Rianta will no longer be received, from where will it receive funding? I fear revenue from the property portfolio of Shannon Development will be directly invested in the airport authority. That is not good economics. Will the Minister clarify the matter? How will the revenue which was used to regenerate industry and provide technology parks and business centres now be used? Will Shannon Development still have the use of that money or will it go to the airport authority?

Shannon Development is extremely creative and through its initiative created the e-town concept whereby it designated a number of e-towns in the region, one being Tarbert, County Kerry. Tarbert is a small community which will be affected by the closure of Tarbert power station with the loss of 129 jobs. I hope Shannon Development will continue to support the e-town initiative and that it will mean the provision of broadband connection and other facilities in Tarbert which will create alternative jobs when the power station closes.

Until last year, Shannon Development had responsibility for tourism promotion in north Kerry, but the Government decided to remove that responsibility from Shannon Development. However, while the decision was made, the structures for transition were not put in place. Despite the extremely good people appointed by Fáilte Ireland to administer tourism in north Kerry, I am convinced we lost out. The fact there was some turmoil within the Cork-Kerry tourism authority did not help either. The presence of Shannon Development and its hard-working offices provided a major boost to tourism in north Kerry. It was only when the remit was taken from Shannon Development that people realised how effective it had been locally. That is an aside, however, which does not concern this Bill. It is all part of the dismantling of Shannon Development, which was a dynamic regional authority that was held up as an example to authorities not only in this country but all over the world. I hope it is being dismantled for the right reasons, but time will tell. I hope this development, for which we are providing a legislative basis, has been well thought through and will not diminish in any way the dynamic that was created within the region.

Shannon Development has also been involved in the Shannon LNG project to import natural gas to the Shannon Development landbank in Kerry. Shannon Development held on to this landbank of 600 acres between Tarbert and Ballylongford. Some time ago, there was a proposal to sell this land but the company held on to it and took it over from IDA Ireland. It has now succeeded in getting this important project not only for north Kerry and specifically the Tarbert-Ballylongford area, but also for the country at large.

Natural gas is imported mostly from the UK and is becoming the global fuel of choice for electricity generation and other industrial energy consumption. This project on the Shannon Estuary, which has been driven by Shannon Development, will be very important for the region. I wonder, however, what Shannon Development's future role will be in attracting industries, such as the LNG project, into the Tarbert-Ballylongford landbank. I understand Shannon Development has attracted another interested party, which has connections to similar projects in Europe, with a view to doing another project. All of that has arisen because of Shannon Development's marketing expertise, presentation, experience and the confidence the organisation has developed over the years.

The north Kerry area has lost many of its traditional engineering companies. From Tralee to Tarbert we have probably lost approximately ten to 15 such firms over the past ten years. These companies employed from 50 to over 200 workers but they are now all gone. We have had little or no foreign direct investment in the area in that period. IDA Ireland has brought five itineraries to the area in the past five years. We have had to depend totally on Shannon Development to provide important jobs such as those in the technology park in Tralee. Hopefully, new jobs can also be created at the landbank. During its construction stage, this project will bring in about 400 people and about 50 permanent staff later. The proposed project is close to the Tarbert power station, which employs 129 people but is due to close shortly. Under the new arrangement, I hope the dynamic created by Shannon Development in the region will continue.

North Kerry and west Clare must be the most peripheral and marginalised region in the country. There is a national secondary road servicing north Kerry, which runs through west Limerick, the port of Foynes, into Tarbert and via Listowel on to Tralee. Very little funding is going into national secondary roads. Kerry accounts for 13% of all national secondary roads in the country. The National Roads Authority is concentrating its funding on national primary roads but north Kerry does not have such a road so the area is disadvantaged, marginalised and suffering as a result.

In any new overview of the region, I hope the N69, which is our national secondary road, will be prioritised for funding. The road services one of the busiest ports in the country at Foynes. Now that it will also service the new development on the landbank, which hopefully will take place, the road should be earmarked for major investment. I agree with connecting the main cities with a state-of-the-art primary road network and, as someone who drives regularly from Kerry to Dublin, I value the major developments along that route. Funding must continue for the national primary road network if we are to have a proper spatial strategy. If we are to achieve balanced regional development, however, we cannot allow places like north Kerry and west Clare to fall behind just because they are not on the national primary road network. In view of the new brief the Minister has given to Enterprise Ireland for the region, and the fact Shannon Development will have a different type of brief, I urge the Minister to ensure the road network and other infrastructure, including broadband, will be part of the new brief.

In his speech, the Minister said Shannon Development will address the needs of less developed parts of the region. If my interpretation of that new role is correct, there will be an important role for Shannon Development in pulling together all the strands concerning underdeveloped areas such as north Kerry. The Minister should designate north Kerry and west Clare for pilot projects under the new arrangements. It should be possible to do so. The Minister should provide that reassurance to people in that region in which case they would be less concerned about the future role of Shannon Development there.

I am glad to have had the opportunity of making a few points on the record concerning Shannon Development. It represents a success story going back to the great Mr. Brendan O'Regan. The organisation has done so much for industry and tourism, in addition to establishing the University of Limerick. It also developed the free zone around Shannon Airport, which was unique at that time. That model has been used since then, not only here but also in other parts of the world to attract industry. Its role in attracting industry to the region at an early stage should be acknowledged. Hopefully this will not be diminished

The Minister occasionally appears in Kerry when he has a positive announcement to make. One of his party colleagues recently announced a new call centre for Tralee and he has been invited by the chamber of commerce there to visit some time in January. I call on him to designate the Tarbert-Ballylongford land bank as an energy park and give Shannon Development, in its new role, responsibility for developing that property.

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to speak on this Bill as it is very important for the area and will hopefully lead to better things for the region. I hope the Minister will address the points I have raised.

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