James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a concern about IDA Ireland site visits to County Kildare, an area with which the Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, is familiar. A reply to a parliamentary question I submitted a month back illustrated that County Kildare had 13 site visits between 2011 and 2015, during the term of the previous Government. Seven of these arose in the final year of the then Government's term, 2015, which was essentially the general election year. In each of the four preceding years, there was a single visit. Visits spiked as the general election approached but were neglected for the four years prior to that. I hope we will not see a recurrence of this with IDA visits accumulating as we approach whenever the next election may be. Let us hope they are scattered across the term and we see more than one a year to County Kildare over the next several years.

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