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

The Deputy makes relevant points about the development of the infrastructure that is needed to sustain foreign direct investment and to create jobs. In every county we are looking at both the foreign direct investment and the indigenous companies that we want to support because small and medium enterprises are the backbone of job creation in the country.

I take the points the Deputy is making but it seems to me from what he is saying that Laois is well placed to attract further FDI and we support the IDA to do just that. We want to see all of the regions benefitting. We also have the regional action plans to make sure of that. They all have ambitious programmes now. There is potential in the area. We want to grow that number. We want to increase the level of FDI-driven employment in the county. The Deputy has made a very good case. We need to try to ensure companies are attracted to the region and that more jobs will be created. There are 30 multinational companies based in the midlands area. I have already given that statistic that 70% of jobs that are created with IDA companies are created by companies already here. There is potential to grow locally from those companies.

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