Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government has a target of locating 50% of FDI projects outside Cork and Dublin. However, last year 75% of investments in FDI projects were in these cities. Only 9% were outside Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick. The Government plays a role in this regard. One might sometimes say it is market-led, but the botox firm located in County Mayo did not choose to locate in that county on the basis that the well turned out people of County Mayo meant it was a good place in which to locate such a firm. German financial firms did not locate in the docklands in Dublin because they thought it was a good place from which to do business. Governments can orientate FDI companies, but it takes political will to do so.

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