Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes.

I welcome the opportunity to address this issue with the Minister; I note the Taoiseach is sitting beside him. I welcome the announcement of the €250 million fund to bring jobs to the regions but I want to highlight that the regions have been doing very badly. The region I am located in, the midlands, and County Laois in particular, has been on the back foot. I raised this issue with the Minister three years ago and I have attended meetings with him in regard to the issue, along with other Deputies.

In 2014, not one overseas investor was brought to County Laois, and in the last three years only one such investor has been brought to the county. Last year, only nine IDA-backed jobs were created in the county, while 28 jobs were lost in IDA-backed companies. In total, there are only 87 people working in IDA-backed companies in County Laois. I know County Kildare is slightly bigger but there are more than 10,000 people working in IDA-backed companies there. While most of them are in the northern part of the county, the southern half, including Monasterevin, has not been getting its fair share.

County Leitrim has almost eight times more people working in IDA-backed companies than Laois, despite the fact that the latter county has nearly three times the population. This matter is not confined to IDA-backed firms. Some 951 people are working in Irish export companies in County Laois. Every one of those jobs is welcome, but Laois is second from the bottom of the league in that respect.

We were told we needed to have infrastructure, services and trained personnel. County Laois has the infrastructure, services, motorways, rail connections and facilities to provide a good quality of life, including leisure centres. We even have golf courses for executives to play on.

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