Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I am glad he is in the Chamber to answer questions. I have no doubt he is a fearless advocate for rural Ireland.

I also welcome the progress made in the investigation into a new model of public banking. The development of a network of regionally based public banks could be a game changer for small and medium enterprises, agribusiness and the regions.

IDA Ireland's efforts in the midlands, especially counties Westmeath and Longford, have been abysmal, shambolic and disappointing, to say the least. In 2017, only 2% of jobs related to foreign direct investment were located in the midlands, which also experienced the smallest increase in IDA Ireland supported jobs in the year. Of 210,000 IDA supported jobs nationwide, only 4,327 are in the midlands. This equates to 2% of total jobs and the figure appears to worsen every year. It is time the Government took urgent corrective action, particularly in the midlands region, including my constituency of Longford Westmeath. The proposal to establish a midlands public bank in Mullingar as a pilot for a national network of regional public banks would go a considerable way towards making up for the failures of IDA Ireland. As I stated, a regional public bank is not a nationalised bank like Allied Irish Banks.

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