Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy McLoughlin has been bombarding our offices on this matter as well, as has Deputy Scanlon. Balanced regional development is extremely important for the Government. We want to ensure that the regions attract industry, which is why the Government has highly ambitious regional job creation targets. This is why we have provided resources to the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices to ensure they can grow jobs in the region. Sligo is very much on the radar; there are some really good companies there. We spoke about Abbott earlier, and there are other companies there as well, including indigenous and foreign direct investment, FDI, companies, which are all contributing to the infrastructure in Sligo town, working collaboratively with Sligo County Council and other agencies. I am satisfied that Sligo will continue to be a part of the IDA's portfolio for creating jobs and that it will benefit both from that and from tourism, which is extremely important to the region as well.

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