Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has not answered my question, namely, if he will commission a report on the reason County Donegal has not been attracting its fair share of new investments in the past few years. He has rightly pointed to how well existing IDA Ireland companies in County Donegal have been doing, 14 of which between them employ 2,228 workers, an increase of 400 or 20% in two years. This shows the county is a place in which business can be done and that businesses which locate in the county can thrive. However, during the past few years none of the new investments in the country have been attracted to County Donegal. It attracted only one of the 88 new investments nationally last year. Of the 61 new investments attracted to Ireland in the previous year, none was attracted to the county.

We have only had 13 visits by companies in the past five years. That record is not good enough. A report investigating the reason we are not getting our fair share of new investments is needed. I have asked the CEO of IDA Ireland the question I am about to ask the Minister, to which I received a response that was non-committal. That is reason I am putting it to the Minister in the Dáil. Will he commission a report on the reason for this poor performance in order that it can be addressed and County Donegal can attract its fair share of new investments in the country?

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