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

I work very hard to ensure that this will happen, not just with the IDA but with Enterprise Ireland, our LEOs and InterTradeIreland. Despite what Deputy Niall Collins said, I am still coming back with hard figures to him. In 2016, 52% of all jobs created were outside Dublin as were 55% of all site visits. At the same time, we have to be realistic. There is a global trend to base foreign direct investment around large urban areas where there is access to transport networks. Quite often, companies want to be located near competitors or clusters of similar enterprises. As a result, it is unavoidable that some businesses are only interested in investing in our larger cities. Deputy Collins did not mention Limerick, which is outside Dublin. There were 49 site visits to Limerick, ten to Kilkenny, 42 to Galway, 49 to Cork, 18 to Clare, 20 to Sligo, 17 to Waterford and 36 to Westmeath. As such, site visits are taking place.

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