Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister may have been concentrating on more important matters when I asked my earlier question on foreign direct investment. My first point was that foreign direct investment is positive and necessary and we must fight for more of it. I pointed out, however, that the imbalance in our exports on the FDI side is dangerous and implored the Minister to seek to rebalance the position.

For two years, the Government's Action Plan for Jobs included a target of having 50% of all investment located outside of Dublin and Cork. Having failed to achieve this target in the first two years, it dropped it in the third year of the action plan. My objective is to ensure the Government refocuses on achieving this target, which must be its paramount objective. The imbalance in investment is having serious effects on the west where and entire GAA generation is being lost. It is also causing significant problems on the east coast.

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