Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I have raised this issue for two reasons. First, I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on 29 November last. The figures outlined in the Minister's response were disappointing. I learned that just five IDA-backed companies have opened in County Limerick since 2002. There have been seven start-ups in the mid-west region as a whole during that time. No new IDA-supported projects opened in County Limerick in 2002, 2003 or 2004. There was one start-up in each of 2005 and 2006 and there have been three start-ups to date in 2007. While the people of Limerick welcome such developments, we do not think they make a significant difference to the county's employment figures.

Recent IDA reports indicate that the number of IDA-backed jobs in Limerick increased by just 139 between 2002 and 2006. Our counterparts in Dublin enjoyed an increase of 3,373 in the number of IDA-supported jobs over the same period. The increase was 1,812 in Cork and 1,567 in Galway. Some counties with smaller populations than Limerick enjoyed larger increases in IDA-backed employment — there were increases of 742 in Kildare, 529 in Waterford and 407 in Leitrim. Jobs have been lost from two Limerick companies over the past year. The loss of over 100 jobs at Fulflex and a similar number of jobs at Atlas Aluminium was hugely significant for the region.

Second, Limerick will have to deal within a month with the closure of the Aer Lingus service between Shannon and Heathrow. The people of the mid-west will be at a major disadvantage when they are no longer able to access 40 cities throughout the world. The Government gave Aer Lingus permission to discontinue the service, in effect, when it failed to use its 25% stake to ensure that the Aer Lingus decision was reversed. The loss of the Heathrow service will do major damage to Limerick and the rest of the mid-west region. Furthermore, Aer Lingus has not committed to providing transatlantic flights from Shannon after the summer of 2008. Many people in the mid-west are worried that Aer Lingus will stop its transatlantic flights after it has ended its Heathrow service, especially now that we have entered the open skies era.

I note with interest the recent suggestion on the part of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, that the Government might renege on the mid-west's €53 million tourism and economic development plan, comprising €44 million for tourism development and €9 million for route support. This cannot be allowed to happen. The plan was produced in June 2006 by the Mid-West Regional Authority in association with all the stakeholders in this sector. It was launched amid great fanfare in July 2006 by the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen. Two other Ministers — the then Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin — were involved in the production of the report at that time. I note that the Minister, Deputy Martin, who is the only one of the three to remain in the position he held at that time, is not present for tonight's debate. The €53 million plan must be retained to allow the mid-west region to market itself in the new environment that is developing as a result of the introduction of the open skies agreement.

I welcome the arrival of any IDA-backed company in the mid-west. State-supported companies account for more than 17% of total employment in the region, whereas nationally the figure is as low as 14.8%. I want the Minister of State to make absolutely certain that Limerick will be given priority by the IDA for the introduction of new large-scale companies.

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