Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister of State publish the submission as urgently as possible? I realise it is under consideration at European level but perhaps we could see the submission. In essence, the most important people to whom the Minister should talk about the regional aid map are the representatives of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. I met senior executives of both at the Committee of Public Accounts recently. When we asked about regional development, they almost looked down their snooty noses at people, as if to suggest we simply wanted something for our county or region. They said we had to look at Ireland in a certain context. They have zero interest in regional development. They want big projects in the big cities and that is the beginning and the end of it because they want jobs. There is proof of what I am saying in the number of visits last year to the Border, midlands and western, BMW, region, which represents almost half the counties of Ireland. Approximately 58 out of the 300 visits which took place last year, that is, 20%, were to this region. Fully 80% of the visits took place outside the BMW region. Reference was made to job creation in the regions. A total of 7,071 jobs were created in 2013, only 20% of which were in the BMW region. Will the Minister of State ensure IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland consider the regions? Europe is not the problem.

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