Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In terms of competitiveness with other countries, we have 51% of the country's population in the C regions. Overall, a lower percentage than that in all of Europe is covered by C regions. We have proportionately more C regions than the EU as a whole. We have much more than some very developed markets and much less than some of the emerging markets. I do not have the exact population percentage coverage to hand but I can get it for the Deputy. The issue of regional development is central. With regard to our agencies dealing with export-oriented companies, last year some 43% of new jobs, 9,500, were in Dublin. I do not have the exact figure for Cork. Overall, export-oriented jobs were reasonably spread. There are concentrations around cities. There is a reasonable spread and our challenge in regional development is to build it stronger. It is not just about foreign direct investment, which is important, but the key is indigenous growth. Given the Deputy's background in supporting indigenous companies, he will agree with that. In C regions, we have 30% capacity for small, 20% for medium and 10% for large. That is graded in order to allow the emergence of smaller indigenous companies that have greater difficulty in travelling the path. We must seek to build on regional competitive advantage, which must be part of the strategy as well as encouraging a regional spread of foreign investment.

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