Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If the Deputy has any suggestions about increased transparency he should give them to me. There is nothing secret about the kind of work that IDA Ireland has been doing. I can give the statistics on the site visits which show that good progress is being made toward the goal that IDA Ireland has set for itself. It is clear that there is a goal of a 30% to 40% increase in FDI in every region outside Dublin by 2019. That is the goal and that is what it is working towards. Some 173 site visits were made in the first quarter of 2017. That is up from 136 over the same period last year. Given the number of visits that are being made, it is quite clear that it is spread across the country. There are areas where it is more difficult to attract investment to, and obviously there is a focus on those areas as well. IDA Ireland is extremely committed, from what I have seen since I took office, to investment in every region of Ireland. In 2016, 52% of all new jobs that were created were created outside Dublin. That is a success. The Deputy is probably referencing some particular areas, but clearly huge progress is being made with 52% of all new jobs being created being outside the capital. Some 55% of all the site visits in 2016 were to locations outside of Dublin, so IDA Ireland is behaving in a way that reflects the targets it has set for regional development.

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