Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. We are all very well aware that the labour market grew by 2.9% last year, adding approximately 60,000 new jobs. Seven out of every ten new jobs is now created outside the commuter belt of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, which is of huge benefit to rural areas. It is projects like this that will inject new life into our provincial towns. Mullingar is a leading town in the midlands and will benefit from this. I assure the Minister that the confidence she has shown in Mullingar, IMR and the National Science Park will not be misguided. UCD has signed up, placing PhD students at the site, and Enterprise Ireland is also very keen to progress and grow the industry there. There are many good things happening. When we get niches like this that can support multinationals, work in cutting-edge areas like robotics and support new technologies in the area, it is very important that we support them. I welcome the Minister's support for it and I look forward to meeting her on it in the next month.

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