Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue regarding the necessary infrastructure for the continued expansion of Intel in Leixlip. Intel is one of Ireland's biggest employers, with more than 4,000 people working in either chip manufacturing or research and development. Indirectly, Intel supports up to eight times this number in the business and service sector in the Kildare, Meath and Dublin areas.

One of the main reasons the company located at this site more than two decades ago was that necessary infrastructure was available along with a qualified labour market. Currently, Intel is retrofitting an existing building as this would be cheaper than starting from scratch. This $500 million investment will create 850 construction jobs in the two year fit-out of this building and the move will create more than 1,000 new jobs in this facility. Key to all this investment, however, is the continued attractiveness of Ireland as a place to invest, particularly with our 12.5% corporation tax. I was delighted to tour the facility recently with the managing director, Eamonn Sinnott, and the Taoiseach, who stressed that the existing rate of corporation tax would be maintained. Consequently, I was delighted to hear the Minister, Deputy Noonan, reiterate this in Paris today.

There is also a well-qualified labour market and Intel has developed links with local schools and NUI Maynooth. In addition, there is the issue of the necessary infrastructure to support this expansion, which includes the huge water requirements of this plant. For the previous two winters, during extreme weather conditions many homes in the area of Celbridge, Leixlip and Maynooth suffered severe water shortages while the council was able to maintain supplies to keep the Intel plant at Leixlip operating. With this new expansion, there needs to be an increase in the water quantities made available to this area of north Kildare.

We all know that in the eastern region, water supply is on a knife edge. It would be a shame if employment suffered as a result of water shortage. There was previous experience of this when lack of a sufficient water supply in the county resulted in a potential major employer locating elsewhere. I urge the Minister to allow the funding to be made available as soon as possible to improve water supply, not alone for the potential for jobs to be generated but also for the householders and small businesses in the area. It is of no use to sanction funds for upgrading the water supply after the factory has been retrofitted, resulting in Intel being unable to commence operations in this facility. This water upgrade must occur in tandem with the retrofit expansion. Consequently, will the Minister of State assure the House that the necessary funds will be made available immediately and that Kildare County Council will speedily upgrade the water supply to this area?

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