Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

No, some of them have already become available. Citco will create 250 new financial services jobs, while the recent announcement by Amgen, the largest biotechnology company in the world, has decided to locate in Cork and to create 1,100 jobs there. IDA Ireland and I worked hard to secure the latter, which is a good development for Cork and its people. It is important to recognise that fact. Amazon, another major company, has established a new multilingual customer services centre in Cork and this investment will create up to 450 positions. In addition, there were also significant job announcements for Cork in the years prior to 2006.

Enterprise Ireland is also working with its client companies in Cork in the context of increasing the number of jobs on offer and it invested almost €9 million in those companies last year. This investment will support new business employment, as well as research and development, capital investment and staff training in Irish-owned companies.

The State development agencies will continue to strengthen their marketing and promotion efforts to secure alternative employment for Cork city and county. This will be done in partnership with other key players to maximise the flow of potential investors to the region and to convert these into new investment and job opportunities. The policies we are pursuing in the Cork region are bearing fruit.

Decisions by companies to cease operations on foot of global difficulties they are experiencing are not the fault of the Government and it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

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