Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill but I do not welcome it because of the effect, as the previous speaker said, it will have on the future role of Shannon Development. If one were looking for an example of an instrument of rural development in any part of the world which would create a dynamic in a region, one would decide on Shannon Development as a very good one. It has worked very well over the years and I will cite a few examples later.

The Government has stripped it of some of its powers and functions. I am convinced that because of the reduced role of Shannon Development in the mid-west region, the region is not as dynamic as it used to be. Shannon Development is now just a property manager. If it is not broken, why fix it? The attitude is mind boggling. Taking north Kerry tourism from Shannon Development and reducing its role to a property manager in Tralee and the Shannon landbank has definitely taken the dynamic out of north Kerry and reduced the visibility of people trying to do something there. I will refer to that again later.

I refer to the time Shannon Development was founded in 1959, and it is no harm to mention some of its achievements. In 1960, it founded the first world industry free zone. That has been an amazing success and it now employs 7,000 people. That was as a result of visionaries like Brendan O'Regan and others. It produces sales of €3.5 billion and it has one of the highest concentrations of American businesses in the country. What thanks did the people who created that get? The role of Shannon Development has been reduced.

Shannon Development created its own town, Shannon, and concepts such as medieval banquets at Bunratty Castle. It was very much involved in setting up the University of Limerick which has been a key economic driver in the mid-west region. It set up one of Ireland's first business innovation centres. It set up the national technology park in 1984 beside the University of Limerick. Shannon Development had the vision to see there was a direct link between technology and universities. That had not happened in the rest of the universities at that stage because they were still concentrating on the humanities whereas the vision was there in the mid-west region.

In 1986 Shannon Development set up the Limerick food centre and it also has achievements such as the Doonbeg golf resort. It set up a series of business and technology parks in a number of locations throughout the region, some 57 in total.

Deputy Ulick Burke alluded to the IDA's performance in his part of the world. In the past ten years, the IDA has not been responsible for the creation of one new job in north Kerry. Reference was made to Aetna in Castleisland, about which the IDA made an announcement last summer. I do not know if those jobs have come on stream yet. In a period of five years, the IDA brought only 13 itineraries to Kerry but in the same period, it brought 156 to Cork. The former Minister was from Cork and Kerry did not have the clout.

Kerry has been totally neglected by the IDA. I have said that to IDA people and will continue to do so. The present administration in the IDA in the region is showing more interest in Kerry but the IDA has shamefully neglected Kerry over the past ten years. That goes without saying. It did not even make an effort to bring something into the county. That is a sweeping statement but it is the reality.

In County Kerry, Shannon Development, using the funding it gets from its own rental spaces across the region — there is no Government liability or involvement because it is not taxpayers money — set up a technology park in Tralee. It cost €8 million and now employs 300 people within 30 very progressive companies, none of which have closed in recent times. One company was sold off to an American company two years ago for €130 million. These companies have links all over the world, with Silicon Valley and elsewhere and are doing very well. The credit for this lies with Shannon Development, not IDA Ireland.

Shannon Development built a business centre, currently fully occupied, in Listowel, again from its own and not Government money, which cost €1.7 million. It has created an e-village in Tarbert, which is also operating in County Clare, where people can come and work from their own houses. It is rigged up with broadband and so on. As result of its careful initiative and planning it now has HESS Corporation which, it is hoped, will build an LNG plant in the Shannon estuary. It provided the land and is now working with the HESS Corporation. The project was ongoing for more than two years.

This is success. I have given only a small overview of this dynamic group of people. It could have been streamlined and nationalised or rationalised. What has happened to it? It has been stripped of its powers. The original idea was that it would be amalgamated with the Shannon Airport Authority and its revenue stream would go into it to keep the airport going. The airport is very important but compromising the Shannon free development company to buttress and make up for the neglect of the airport over a period of time by the Government was unfair and the wrong approach to take.

Reducing the role of Shannon Development in this country was a retrograde step for real regional development. In the 1980s, when we looked at regional development as an instrument to bring up all parts of Ireland at the same time, everybody cited the midwest region as a region all other places should replicate. The Government has lost sight of regional policy. It no longer matters. During the leadership of the former Taoiseach there was only one place which mattered to him and that was Dublin. That is reflected around the country. Some of the Deputies from his side of the House would probably accept that. There was no balance at all in developments across the country. Perhaps, because of the halt in building and the closure of industries, it may not affect some of the peripheral regions because there was nothing to be closed — they had all already closed.

Another area where Shannon Development took a very important role in north Kerry since 1989 is its involvement in tourism promotion and development. It built a totally new product in Tralee, made it into a tourism town and provided a museum and several other facilities. It was also involved in a number of initiatives in north Kerry.

Following very little debate and consultation with the main players, north Kerry was brought into Fáilte Ireland for tourism promotion and development. What has happened? Fáilte Ireland has no presence to any great extent. There is no development work, despite the fact it has a representative there who is doing his best. It took the focus off the area. As a result, products which were developed through hard work and the efforts of people such as my former team-mate Denis "Ogie" Moran, who spent hours and weekends promoting tourism products and meeting groups of people, have all now dissipated. All that good work is gone. There is no promotion left. We have products in the area but Fáilte Ireland is not promoting them to the extent that Shannon Development would have done.

There are other issues involved in this debate regarding raising grants, which I welcome. However, reducing its role and consigning Shannon Development to the scrap heap, which I hope will not happen, is bad for the region. This by the Government has taken the dynamic out of the region and has not helped the midwest. I appeal to the task force, set up under Denis Brosnan, to look again at changing the role of Shannon Development and giving it more of a dynamic leadership role within the region so we could be back here in a few years looking at perhaps redefining its role for the sake of the totality of the region.

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