Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to seeing a closer working relationship between Leader, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. I was in Kerry recently and, if IDA Ireland were to invest in the Kerry Technology Park beside the institute of technology and facilities for entrepreneurs in IT, from listening to the Tralee chamber of commerce it sees great potential for employment in the south west and specifically in Kerry. Deputy Tom Fleming saw the Enterprise Ireland statistics last week, where new enterprises and smaller enterprises growing into larger enterprises are now exporting significantly. If, as a country, we can harness the energy of the Leader groups and the significant community contribution and participation in the Leader groups and bring it together with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, we can create new enterprises and employment in rural areas. ConnectIreland has been working very successfully since it started a few years ago and almost all of its jobs have been in rural Ireland. This is not just into the bigger towns and cities.

The tendering system for the Leader groups was conducted under the auspices of Pobal and it was challenging for people to be involved in it. The main issue is that the European Union has significantly reduced the funding heading. The Government is committed to matching funding but the amount we can commit depends on budgetary issues. It is a priority of the Government to ensure the recovery, as it begins to take hold, goes right into rural Ireland as much as in urban Ireland. In that respect, I welcome the comments of Deputy Tom Fleming and I will give them my support.

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