Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a major disparity between the pace of development and job growth in Dublin, other centres along the east coast and other large urban areas vis-à-visthat in rural Ireland. This was illustrated in a parliamentary question reply I received from the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, yesterday, in which he said, of the total foreign direct investment, FDI, companies located in Ireland, 50%, totalling 596 companies, are located in the greater Dublin region. The east coast has seen a significant recovery and growth, with annual employment growth of approximately 5%. In the other urban areas around the country, there is employment growth of approximately 2%. Unfortunately, in the rest of rural Ireland, employment growth is practically nil.

The Minister stated that Cork has 146 IDA Ireland client companies, Galway has 63, and Limerick has 48. In my county, Kerry, there is an industrial wasteland and we are down to a meagre 12 IDA Ireland companies, while Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice's county, Roscommon, has eight companies, Tipperary has 11 and Monaghan has six. In a plethora of counties one can count the FDI companies on one hand. I refer to IDA Ireland investment being carried into the rest of rural Ireland. Some 1,090 IDA Ireland visits took place between 2013 and 2015, of which 561 were directly to Dublin. In contrast to my county, Kerry, our neighbouring county, Cork, had 83 visits. My peripheral county, Kerry, is an industrial wasteland and this reflects what is happening in the rest of rural Ireland. It is very late in the time of the Government to ensure there is an economic balance. Will the Taoiseach correct the imbalance, set out to do so immediately, and put the plan in place in the lifetime of the Government? Will he take the focus off the major urban areas and give an equal opportunity to rural Ireland, which has been decimated?

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