Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. While I acknowledge the progress that has been made, the reality is that everything has been different since 2007. The Minister of State does not need to be told that there are parts of the BMW region that would certainly qualify for A grade. The region itself has grown, with Galway city and parts of Louth having had substantial employment growth, but in other areas there has been no growth. In the north west, agency-assisted employment has fallen by a fifth since 2003, including another 1% drop. The whole regional aid policy needs to be reviewed at European level in light of the collapse in European economies in recent years. Many areas that may have been stronger in 2006 or 2007 have fallen back. We have discussed emigration and the flight of people from many of these areas. The way to get these people home is to promote industry, particularly home-grown industry. The change in state aid affects our ability to do that. We need to go back to these state aids at European level. The Government needs to use the influence it has gained in recent months to drive that campaign. We need to review this because the country as a whole will lose out, and if we do not do this, I suspect the European Union will lose out because investment will go to areas outside the EU.

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