Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I have said, the figures for the first quarter of the year can be misleading. I suggest a 12-month period should be studied to get a better picture in respect of site visits. There were ten site visits to the Deputy's home county of Cork in the first three or four months of this year. Site visits take place all year round. It is not the case that there is a certain number of visits each month. There can be extra site visits during the summer and more later on in the year. It is extremely important for IDA Ireland to have greenfield sites as a viable tool for attracting new industry into the regions. The reality, fair and straight, is that the regions are faring well. As the Deputy knows, foreign direct investment, which has been mentioned, tends to go into clusters. It is important that we have indigenous industry to back that up as well. Enterprise Ireland's results for last year show that 65% of the net 10,000 jobs it created were located outside the greater Dublin area. I remind the House that the local enterprise offices created almost net 3,700 jobs throughout the country last year. Our intention is to ensure every region, county and community feels the effect of the recovery when jobs are being created.

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