Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The key issue is creating regional clusters. People are thinking regionally, especially about the development of roads around Limerick, such as the southern ring road and the tunnel that brings one right out to Shannon. In my time in Limerick in recruiting people to American multinationals during the boom in the 2000s, Limerick was hurt by the fact that it was involved in the electronic subcontracting and manufacturing sector which took a hit between 2007 and 2009 and many of those jobs went east. It is prudent and innovative to move into those different clusters and not have a region be seen for just one specific cluster. Limerick has diversified more into financial services since then and into medical devices, as well as the clusters the Minister of State has described. I ask that it be made as easy as possible for companies to get through the bureaucracy to avail of this regional enterprise fund.

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