Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. A lot of good work is being done at local level by the local enterprise office and the local authority. We, as public representatives, the Sinn Féin representatives no less than anyone else, are working to improve infrastructure and facilities in the county and make it attractive for inward investment. However, the record in County Laois is appalling. There were 39,609 net new jobs created in IDA Ireland backed companies in 2015 and 2016. County Laois, as the Tánaiste noted, got just 28 of them. That is 0.07% of them. I am not arguing that County Kildare should have got less, but it got 1,140 in the same period. County Laois is at the bottom of the league and has been so consistently for more than two decades. Why?

Bord na Móna has plans for some of its Coolnamona sites and IDA Ireland has been tasked with marketing them. It has been requested by Bord na Móna to do that. There are business parks in the county and huge infrastructure improvements in terms of motorways and broadband. The facilities in the county in terms of hotels, golf courses, swimming pools and sports facilities are excellent. It has the infrastructure needed to address quality of life issues. When I became a councillor, I was told that we lagged behind in respect of all those matters. We have done all of that and have excellent facilities and infrastructure in the county. All parties are behind this, yet 0.07% of jobs are going to the county. There are 10,000 people a day commuting out of County Laois to work. That is not acceptable in a county of 85,000 people.

See this speech in context