Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept much of what the Minister stated in regard to changing shopping habits and money leaving regions as a result of people shopping online or in larger outlets, etc. I wish to return to the issue of IDA Ireland. Kilbarry industrial estate in my constituency of Cork North Central is less than a mile and a half from St. Patrick's Bridge in Cork city. It comprises 56 ha of prime land but the only things on it are fields of barley. Every year, barley is grown on the site.

If the IDA does not want to do something with it, something else should be done with it. Can we not take note of the idle properties that the IDA has? If it is not going to use them to some benefit for itself in job creation and industrial development, this 56 ha should not be growing barley, a mile and a half from Cork city centre. I have consistently raised this with the IDA and I am quite disgusted that after all of these years, we are still going barley on an IDA site a mile and half from Patrick's bridge.

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