Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Deasy for raising this issue and I understand his concern. The figures show the south east with the highest rate of unemployment in the country at 19.7%. That was a feature even in the good times. It was an area with high unemployment even while there was strong performance in the rest of the country. Unemployment blackspots, which disappeared in many parts of the country, persisted in Waterford. That was the background to my decision last December, following the closure of Talk Talk, to set up a south-east action plan. It is in recognition of the structural problems Deputy Deasy recognises. There is a mixture of problems with education and physical infrastructure, many of which have been debated. Other structural problems include those spelled out by Deputy Deasy. New industry has not taken hold a strongly in Waterford as it has in other regions.

The positive point in the action plan is that it has identified strengths as well as weaknesses. The Deputy referred specifically to the activity of the IDA and the sense of neglect or a lack of attention. Since I gave a direction to the IDA to give clear priority to the region, there has been a significant step up in site visits to Waterford. In the year to date, and we are not yet halfway through the year, there have been more site visits than in the past three years. There is a significant increase in activity. I visited the region on three occasions and plan to meet the stakeholders in the south-east action plan later this month, which is roughly six months after it was launched, to review progress. Solid progress has been made on the plan but it is not spectacular. Against the background of the problems, we need to continue our focus and I am determined to do so.

The question of a bad perception of industrial relations in Waterford has not been an issue on my book. All of the fault was on the employer side and not in any way on the workers side in respect of how the TalkTalk closure was handled. The workers behaved with great dignity and it was an encouraging sign of confidence building for potential investors. I refer to the establishment of Eistech by three former employees of TalkTalk. This is a company with potential for significant growth and it can be counted as an early success of the south-east action plan. I accept the Deputy's well made point that we need to continue to work on this agenda. Many factors contribute to build the environment - or ecosystem - for stronger growth in sectoral opportunities. The Waterford Institute of Technology has been very impressive in its technology centre with regard to telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, the food and environmental area. These are significant bases which it is hoped will help when companies are brought on site visits in an attempt to market the region successfully. The bringing together of interested parties and sectors has resulted in a sense of shared ownership of the problem and this is helpful. It was heartening to see the groups working together. I accept the Deputy's point that progress remains to be made in this area and this against a background of very difficult conditions in the domestic economy and which impact on Waterford in particular given the variety of its industrial sectors. The economic conditions probably impact to a disproportionate degree on the south east because it does not have the sectors which have proved themselves to be more resilient in these difficult circumstances. I reiterate my commitment to working with the region in order to ensure the agencies under my remit maintain their focus on the region. I will review the progress and I hope to add further initiatives which can build on the current action plan.

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