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

We need to win all the mobile foreign investment we can because emigration and unemployment are high. This investment strengthens certain sectors of the economy and builds clusters. We also need to develop a credible regional strategy within which IDA Ireland investment is only one part. We must have a credible and wide regional strategy that builds up the competitive advantage of regions, identifies the sectors in which they have an edge and builds on their strengths. Many of these will be in life sciences, tourism and food and not always in the sectors where there are flows of foreign direct investment from time to time.

We need to have a balanced debate on this issue and ensure all of our agencies, not only IDA Ireland, focus on maximising the regional spread of development. That is the approach I will take in respect of this matter.

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