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

The truth is I cannot build roads. I do not have the authority to do so nor can I fund the building of roads. While I am sure there is great merit in the Deputy's proposal, I am not the Minister to do it but I can support enterprises. We have 14 IDA Ireland and 180 Enterprise Ireland companies in County Donegal. We will approach those companies in the coming year to see what their plans are for development. IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland will work to help those companies to develop business plans which can realise employment growth in the future. That is what the money we will allocate will be used for.

We will also set up the local enterprise network in County Donegal. It is a new collaborative approach between Donegal County Council, the existing enterprise board and Enterprise Ireland. Those are initiatives we will take to help grow new businesses in County Donegal. That is what my capital allocation is used for, and yesterday's results show the impact of that. We have 58,000 extra people working in this country which includes a substantial increase of almost 10,000 in the north west. The work we are doing is having an impact on the Deputy's region as well as on every other region in this country. He must, however, address infrastructural issues of a wider nature to the Ministers responsible.

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