Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to raise an important issue for County Laois, which is the need for IDA Ireland supported jobs and investment in the county. Before I prepared for this debate, I decided to take a strong proactive and positive approach towards working with IDA Ireland to secure jobs and investment in County Laois. All too often when dealing with this matter at local level, too many people take the easy option of attacking IDA Ireland for having a very bad record in respect of County Laois but it has its worst record in the county. This approach on its own has not produced any results. While IDA Ireland has a bad record, I want to concentrate on the positive reasons this can now be corrected.

County Laois is an attractive place for investment and we would welcome foreign investment. The county has an excellent workforce and, surprisingly, 11,500 highly educated people leave Laois by car, van, bus or train to work in other areas, mainly in Dublin. Recently, the local authority conducted a major survey on them. More than 6,000 people responded. A total of 1,671 work in business and IT, more than 1,400 in healthcare, more than 1,000 in training and development, 1,000 in manufacturing and another 1,000 people in retail. A number of people from Laois also work on construction projects outside the county. The regional office of IDA Ireland welcomed the survey and stated it has increased its understanding of the skills profile of County Laois and that it will be helpful for potential investors when considering where to place their investment. Having this insight is important for IDA Ireland.

The survey also shows that a workforce of up to 400,000 people lives within a one-hour commute of Laois, which is also important. Everybody now accepts the central location of County Laois. It is near Dublin but not in Dublin. Land, building, investment, rates and rent are not at Dublin price levels. It is much more economical to set up in County Laois. The roads are of the highest quality of any county in Ireland. We have the M7 and M8 motorways from Dublin to Cork, Limerick and Kerry. We have the best network of motorways in the country. We have outstanding hotels and services. We have a lot of zoned land, particularly in the Portlaoise area. I want IDA Ireland to concentrate on the site it owns on the Mountrath road in Portlaoise. As I mention Mountrath, I want to particularly mention members of the Men's Shed from Mountrath who are visiting the Dáil today. I want IDA Ireland to target the site in its ownership, together with the site that Laois County Council acquired at junction 17 on the M7 and M8 motorways as they turn into County Laois. There is now no good reason investment should not come to the county.

On 16 February, I took the first initiative of its nature when I invited Mr. Martin Shanahan, the chief executive of IDA Ireland, and Ms Julie Sinnamon, the chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, together with local businesses in Laois to have a meeting in Portlaoise. It was the first time the two chief executives ever came to the county for such a meeting. Its purpose was to put Laois on the map and, more important, to put it in the minds of those two key chief executives. They agreed on the day they would return in 12 months, which will be next February, to discuss progress. I look forward to this. I gave them a reasonable period of 12 months and we hope that between now and then there will be substantial progress, site visits and perhaps, with a bit of luck, some good announcement for County Laois. If it is in Portlaoise, everybody will be happy.

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