Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I am sure it is helpful having a Kerry man in there. Hopefully, there will be benefits in the future. I welcome the growth in recent years. Turning around the trend that was present between 2008 and 2010 so significantly was a great achievement. It could be argued that we are starting from a lower base but what really stands out is the huge difference between Cork and Kerry. Yes, it is the second largest urban centre in the Republic of Ireland and we must give a weighting to that. However, to have 15 times the number of people working in those companies is too skewed and we need to address that imbalance.

If we cannot establish a dedicated Kerry office, there should be greater emphasis on the county and a renewed effort to bring more to it and to highlight some of the positives that are in it. The Minister rightly referred to the institute of technology which will hopefully soon become a technological university, the technology park and the new advance facility, which is very welcome. However, we can also look at examples at around the county such as the town of Killorglin. I have raised this issue with the Minister previously. Killorglin is a shining example of a rural town that has really shown itself to be a success story. It contains indigenous companies like FEXCO, companies like Temmler and Astellas and smaller companies like Promed and Aqua Design. Liebherr is only a few miles down the road in Fossa. All these companies are operating and providing employment in a rural town that would be seen as peripheral by many but that is showing that one can do business and be very successful. It should be held up as the example to any prospective investor. They should be told to look at what has been done in Killorglin and told that they could go there, be among many other high-achieving companies and do very well. This is an area we need to look at.

The Minister has listened and I thank him for that. I was looking through the archives recently and saw a Topical Issue I raised in 2011 about the need for a regional approach to jobs planning and individual job plans for the regions. The Minister has done this and followed it through, which is a major step forward.

That is highly progressive. It has not been done before. I mentioned the strengths and opportunities in Kerry recently. They are at the heart of what the Minister is doing with the regional jobs plan, which will boost every region.

Shamelessly wearing my constituency hat, I have to say we have not punched high enough in Kerry to bring in foreign direct investment. We need more site visits to try to sell the county more. I hope the regional office for the south west will place a greater emphasis on redressing that imbalance.

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