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

The strategy that the IDA published set a target of 50% job creation outside Dublin and Cork. It has not been possible to achieve that. That is not because the company has not been seeking to deliver it. The agency reports and makes efforts to promote the other regions. Unfortunately, the nature of mobile foreign investment has changed. We can see this in the type of wins the agency is getting. The sector has shifted and unfortunately that shift has favoured large cities in particular, such as Dublin and Cork.

The reason I put the spotlight on Waterford and the south east was in recognition of the difficulty. The site visits of prospective IDA clients have almost trebled since I put that spotlight on. Undoubtedly, there is a new emphasis by IDA on the south east and Waterford in particular.

We do not have it open to us to set different regional aid packages for Waterford as against other areas. Regional aid packages are set by EU strategy and we must comply with the rules. I am reviewing the foreign direct investment strategy and I will be looking at how we seek to achieve it. One of the things we have done which, I believe, is innovative, is the development of ConnectIreland, which uses the resources of regions and their international contacts to help lever new investment into those regions.

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