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

I thank the Deputy for his comments. It is important to bear in mind that 70% of the wins by IDA Ireland in terms of job expansion come from the existing base of companies. Deputy Calleary will know that the west of Ireland has had a very strong performance in the last four years, with a net increase in the numbers working in IDA Ireland companies of 27%. Indeed, all counties have experienced a significant increase but we believe that we can do better. We propose to create magnets within the regions through the construction of advance facilities. This approach has not been used for some time. We have deliberately sought to locate those facilities close to significant labour pools within the regions so that we have a strong offering to encourage investment.

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Apart from the advance facilities, IDA Ireland will look to build on the strength of its offering in the regions as well as the more effective sale of the region and better co-ordination of regional actors in promoting the area and supporting the agency's marketing efforts. All those can contribute and that is why a multi-stakeholder approach to this is being adopted in the regional plan.

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