Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are fully committed to the creation of high-quality and sustainable employment across Ireland, including in County Meath. The Mid-East Action Plan for Jobs is a key policy response for supporting employment growth in this region, including County Meath, with public and private stakeholders actively engaged in delivering the range of innovative and practical actions set out in the plan.  The core objective of the plan is to see a further 25,000 at work in the region by 2020 and to reduce the unemployment rate to within 1% of the State average.

The first two progress reports on the implementation of the action plan show that good progress continues to be made in implementing the actions. The second progress report highlighted actions of specific benefit to Meath, such as the fit-out of Kells Tech Hub, using REDZ funding, to provide shared services and hot desking facilities. In addition, Meath Enterprise was awarded funding under the Enterprise Ireland Community Enterprise Initiative to develop the Boyne Valley Food Hub.

There are now 12,800 more people at work across Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow since the launch of the regional action plan for jobs initiative in quarter 1 of 2015. The unemployment rate in the region has also dropped to 5.8%, lower than the State average of 6.4%.

I am also determined to grow foreign direct investment, FDI, driven job creation further outside of our main urban areas. I am pleased that significant progress has been made towards achieving the IDA's target of a 30% to 40% increase in FDI in every region outside Dublin, including the Mid-East.

There are currently 17 IDA client companies located in County Meath employing close to 1,500 people. This year has seen some significant investments in the county, with Shire announcing plans to expand its global biotechnology manufacturing capacity over the next four years. It is expected this will lead to the creation of approximately 400 permanent jobs on a 120 acre site at Piercetown, County Meath. This news followed Facebook’s announcement in January of the construction of a new data centre in Clonee, County Meath. Construction for the €200 million data centre is taking place, with more than 1,000 workers on site daily.

The IDA continues to highlight the benefits of expanding or locating in County Meath to its client base and it makes every effort to ensure that FDI is spread as widely as possible throughout the country. Since 2016, there have been nine site visits to the county. While site visits can be a useful indicator of new investment interest, they are not by any means indicative of the potential for FDI in an area. I point out in this regard that at least 70% of investment comes from existing IDA clients.

While the IDA always highlights the benefits of investing in the regions to prospective investors, determining which particular sites may be attractive to a client depends very much on the particular requirements of the firm concerned. Factors that are also important for overseas investors include the suitability of local infrastructure, the proximity of transport hubs and the availability of skilled talent. Multinational companies ultimately decide for themselves whether they want to operate in the area.

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