Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Leitrim is a little like Clare. My county is sandwiched between Galway and Limerick and Leitrim is sandwiched between Donegal and Sligo. I have visited Leitrim in my role as Minister of State and I have seen at first hand the operations of fantastic indigenous companies such as VistaMed, which employs over 400 people.

There are brewery companies such as the Carrig Brewing Company, as well as companies such as Cora Systems and Prior PLM Medical, which were with me on a trade mission. Then, of course, there is the famous distillery in Drumshanbo, The Shed Distillery . There is a lot happening in County Leitrim in the indigenous area. In the FDI area, there are some really good companies in County Leitrim, such as Avantcard, which has 160 employees and MCi, which has 200 employees in Manorhamilton.

For counties such as Leitrim, it is a combination of both indigenous micro-enterprises and IDA Ireland jobs. What is important is to keep trying to attract jobs into the regions. If one looks at the track record of IDA Ireland, last year alone it created more than 10,000 jobs, with 45% of those outside the greater Dublin area. I assure Deputy Martin Kenny that we are working hard to ensure County Leitrim is very much part of the overall picture for balanced regional development.

See this speech in context