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

I thank Deputy Griffin for raising this issue. As the Deputy knows, under my direction, the enterprise agencies have adopted a very strong regional focus, particularly in the past 12 months. I have worked with local stakeholders in the south west to develop a regional action plan for jobs for the region. This includes very strong ambitions for both Irish-owned and foreign-owned businesses in the region. The plan has set ambitious targets for FDI. They are a 30% to 40% increase in new investments, building an advance technology building in Tralee, building upon Kerry brand development initiatives as a marketing tool overseas, developing a regional Connect Ireland plan that is integrated with the local authorities' plans and activities and establishing a south west skills forum to ensure that the future skill needs of targeted sectors and enterprises are developed by the local institutes of education.

As part of its approach to implementing the regional strategy, the IDA has established a stand-alone regional office for the south west. Previously, the Cork office covered both the south east and the south west. The office in Waterford is an office for the south east. It is not an office specifically for one county.

The Deputy is correct in pointing out that Kerry has a smaller foreign-owned enterprise base than in Cork. However, it has exhibited strong growth in the past four years increasing jobs by 24%. This is in contrast to a 25% decline in the previous three years. I am confident that this strong progress can be maintained. On a proportional basis, this is faster growth than that experienced by most counties. Site visits to Kerry have increased significantly in the past 18 months, which is also a healthy sign. We are in the process of building an advance facility in Kerry.

The marketing of any regional area, including Kerry, for FDI is done through IDA Ireland's network of overseas offices. IDA Ireland actively incentivises and encourages investors to consider a range of potential locations in Ireland, although the ultimate locations selected are always decided by the companies themselves. As the Deputy has recognised, one of the boosts that will help us market Kerry more effectively is the reinstatement of regional aid from 1 July 2014. This allows the State to grant aid at enhanced rates to businesses to support new investment and employment in Ireland's more disadvantaged regions. This is a new element in the armoury of IDA Ireland in promoting the Kerry region.

IDA Ireland promotes Kerry as part of an integrated south west region, along with Cork, with access to the county population base of 145,048. The reality is that we must market ourselves in the context of pretty deep labour market pools across a region. We build a base of regional strengths as a magnet but we have also used the advance facility in Kerry as a way of making sure it does not just focus on the core but that we have other parts of the region providing alternatives. Based on the strengths of the region, IDA Ireland is particularly targeting emerging companies in the ICT, international financial services and global business services sectors. In addition to attracting new foreign direct investment, IDA Ireland continues to work closely with its existing clients in Kerry to encourage them to expand their operations in the county. As the Deputy has recognised, this has been very strong.

The IDA is satisfied that it is delivering a strong service to Kerry as an integral part of the south-west region. IDA Ireland is structured on a NUTS III regional basis - this is the south west as a single region - and there are no plans to change this. I would point out as an aside that, as the Deputy probably knows, the CEO is a Kerry man. In some ways, Kerry has occupied Wilton House as a way of ensuring it gets attention.

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