Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Collins also referred to the islands. As he knows, in the past month the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, formally launched a consultative process which will formulate a new national policy for the future development of the islands. This will lead to the development of a national policy which will ensure our island communities are supported in a sustainable way for generations to come.

The IDA made 55 site visits to Cork this year. Due to commercial sensitivities, we do not have information on specific locations where site visits have taken place. Last year there were 61. We also need to realise how important indigenous industry is to west Cork. Deputy Collins mentioned tourism. The marine and maritime sector is extremely important.

Part of the regional enterprise plan launched by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, last March is focused on the delivery of regional enterprise hubs, business clustering to ensure skills and talent are available and, as I said, supporting the maritime and marine industry which is synonymous with west Cork and provides a lot of industry. Tourism is an important industry in west Cork.

The unemployment figure for the area is currently 5.1%, a decrease from a high of 10.5% a few years ago. Cork has done really well and the future is positive for Cork. There are 24,500 more people working in south-west Cork than there were a number of years ago.

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