Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. While he asked me to set up a committee to look at this issue, I can tell him we have a very strong regional action plan for jobs implementation group there. I have met them and they are absolutely working hard to ensure they land jobs in the region and that the jobs that are already there can be sustained. The Deputy made reference to IDA Ireland site visits. Of course, we all want site visits but it is very difficult to make chief executives and senior management go on site visits if they do not want to. It must also be remembered that when jobs are being created they are often within existing IDA Ireland companies. I assure the Deputy that IDA Ireland will work very hard to ensure those jobs are created in the north-west region. I do not believe we need a committee, as we have an excellent implementation group there that is making sure the regional action plan for jobs is implemented.

I am very aware of the cross-Border workers issue. I am sure the Deputy has heard the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Theresa May speak of the importance of the Border and to make sure it is frictionless. That is what we will be doing, to make sure it is easy for people to conduct business and for students to cross the Border on their daily school trips. We will ensure this will be a hugely important negotiating issue in the run-up to the Brexit negotiations.

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