Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

At the moment, in my own Department, this is a new area being set up. Of course we will look at ways of creating jobs in every part of the regions. However, to be honest, there are a lot of agencies out there now including State agencies such as IDA Ireland and the local employment offices. This is not really within my portfolio, it is more the jobs arena, but there are many State agencies that cover this, even in the west region. I am looking at the numbers of agencies to see if some could be amalgamated. Sometimes if there are too many agencies it can result in nobody doing what they should be doing or there can be duplication of effort. I am looking to review the number of State agencies.

I am glad Deputy Cullinane acknowledged the many jobs that have been created but I would like to see more jobs in the regions. It is my job, as Minister of State, to ensure that the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation does this. I will be meeting with the Minister in the coming weeks and I will be putting pressure on every Department to look at valid regional development and spreading jobs out to the regions.

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