Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)

As the Minister, Deputy Bruton, is aware, the IDA last year had a record breaking year in terms of job creation, with a net figure of almost 6,000 jobs created. This is not the first time the Minister will have heard somebody from Waterford try to hold the IDA to account and it will not be the last because, unfortunately, for all the good that is in the recent report, it makes very poor reading for the south east, the only region of the country to see a marked decline in terms of job creation through IDA initiatives. This drop of 8.2% translates to in excess of 1,000 jobs, a figure that is nothing to be scoffed at for Waterford city and the south-east region, which has a current unemployment rate of 20%.

There has been a lot of rhetoric about this high unemployment rate in the south east. The reality is there are people and families behind these figures who find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. What I want to know, and I have asked the same of the IDA, is whether exit interviews are being conducted with prospective investors. What is it that Waterford and the south east is lacking that other regions seem to have in abundance? If exit interviews are not being conducted, why not? Can we develop a policy to ensure that, as a Government, we have the information we need to make the best decisions to ensure something both parties promised in the run-up to the election, namely, balanced regional development?

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