Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Everybody understands how the corporate world works in terms of decision-making. Companies make the decisions that are best suited to them but it is a fact, and despite everything the Minister says there is no disputing it, that IDA Ireland is failing the regions of the country outside of the greater Dublin area in terms of site visits.

In 2016, there was one site visit to Roscommon in 2016 there were three site visits to Kerry. That is unacceptable. The responsibility falls back on the Minister to impress upon the IDA that it must engage in itineraries outside the greater Dublin area in so far as possible. The figures show that 45% of site visits were in the greater Dublin area, which was the figure the Minister gave, but if one looks at the GDP statistic provided recently by the CSO, 45% of the Irish GDP is generated in the greater Dublin area whereas in the UK, 20% of GDP is generated in the London area. We have an imbalance and the IDA needs to work harder to address it. Is the Minister going to do something different to bring some initiative or give some direction to the IDA to change the trend which is towards the greater Dublin area and the east coast? We cannot allow a situation to persist in which Roscommon, Kerry, Cavan and other counties fail to receive due consideration from the IDA. Can the Minister redouble her efforts and implement an initiative to address that?

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