John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I want to refer to the role of the IDA as the primary development authority with responsibility for attracting foreign direct investment. Parts of my constituency of Waterford have been treated as an afterthought by the IDA for many years, in particular west Waterford and Dungarvan. They stand out as being the worst affected. Last week I received figure is detailed in the number of visits to Dungarvan by potential investors over the past four years. There were five visits by potential investors which is not an impressive number.

At this point in time we need to consider the relationship of the Dáil with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland and determine how to maximise the effectiveness of our inward investment strategy as a whole. I have a background in international trade; it is one of the areas I worked in when I lived in the United States. I have come to the conclusion that the level of interaction between legislators in our national Legislature and the IDA needs to be more frequent and far more comprehensive.

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