Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Under the Industrial Development Acts I am specifically precluded from giving directives to the industrial development agencies regarding individual undertakings or from giving preference to one area over another.

IDA Ireland's strategy for achieving a better regional distribution of overseas mobile investment is to work in partnership with other stakeholders to present companies with credible alternatives which go as far as possible towards meeting their demands for critical mass in terms of population, skills and infrastructure. In line with this strategy, and in agreement with South Tipperary County Development Board, IDA Ireland strategy for south Tipperary is to concentrate future economic development in Clonmel and develop the town as a first-class location for overseas investment. Therefore, while no site visits by prospective overseas investors to Carrick-on-Suir were specifically hosted by IDA Ireland in 2006, the agency believes the town is very well located to capitalise on its position between Clonmel and the gateway city of Waterford, which are both approximately a 20 minute drive away.

At present, south Tipperary has 12 IDA Ireland supported companies, employing approximately 2,027 people with a further 1,000 jobs to come on-stream over the next two to three years. The key industry sector in the county is life sciences, which accounts for almost 60% of employment. The presence of foreign direct investment companies within the region has knock-on benefits in sectors such as supply, distribution and transport, thus creating employment opportunities for local people.

During the past three years Enterprise Ireland approved funding of more than €4.46 million and made payments of more than €2.2 million to client companies in south Tipperary. The agency is actively engaged with 96 client companies in south Tipperary which employ a total of 2,717 people.

The development of community based enterprise centres is a crucial part of the drive to create new regional enterprise. Enterprise Ireland provided support of approximately €54,000 in 1998 to set up the enterprise centre in Carrick-on-Suir. The management team of the Carrick-on-Suir community enterprise centre played a very active role in securing the establishment of Blarney Woollen Mills in the Tipperary Crystal facility. This project is a major success and resulted in creating 30 new jobs in the area. Further expansion of this project is now under way, and will result in additional new jobs for the area.

The live register provides data on a county and local office of registration basis but it is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers as well as seasonal and casual workers entitled to job seekers allowance or benefit. In the 12 month period to February 2007, the live register decreased by 4.7% in Carrick-on-Suir compared to a decrease of 0.1% in the south-east region and a similar decrease of 0.1% in the nation as a whole. FÁS also provides a range of services for unemployed persons in Carrick-on-Suir and the surrounding areas.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The practice of establishing task forces has changed since the establishment of the county development boards. Rather than creating a further layer by establishing task forces, the relevant CDB is now seen as the body best placed to oversee any additional response that is required over and above the work of the industrial development agencies under the auspices of my Department.

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