Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take the Deputy's points on board. We have to look at the fact that since 2016 there have been nine site visits to County Meath by the IDA. There are some flagship companies in Clonee, and there is a €200 million investment by Facebook happening there at the minute. That is a very important and significant investment. The Tánaiste spoke about it earlier when she discussed data centres. That investment is strategically very important. The one disadvantage that Meath has, which other counties surrounding Dublin also have, is that sometimes people commute out of the county into the capital city. That can be a disadvantage. At the same time Meath is an important location for FDI, particularly when it comes to quality of life and the availability of housing as well. I will emphasise to the IDA the importance of the issues that the Deputy has raised today, but the fact is that there have been nine site visits since 2016. Companies are growing, particularly the foreign companies in the county, and sometimes they increase their workforce without the fanfare that some companies want. That is a strategic decision taken by the company itself. Meath has done really well, but the Deputy is obviously concerned about the regional towns. It is important that we invest in those too.

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