Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to put on the Dáil record examples of what is happening.

I will give a number of examples. Last year, Invest Northern Ireland reported that it was dealing with 50 firms interested in setting up in Northern Ireland, and Manufacturing Northern Ireland has noted a similar uptake in investment interest. For example, the Almac group, the global pharmaceutical organisation headquartered in Craigavon, announced the creation of 1,000 new jobs in Northern Ireland. Almac has consistently highlighted its unique, unfettered and flexible access to the UK, Europe and beyond under the protocol, referring to this as “the Almac advantage”. Ardagh Metal Packaging announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art €200 million beverage can plant in Belfast to service the growing needs of customers in Ireland, the UK and Europe. Deli Lites, a Warrenpoint-based food producer, has reportedly won a number of accounts previously serviced by Great Britain competitors and, in October, announced 45 new jobs in its Milltown industrial estate factory as part of a Stg£4.3 million investment. There are real things happening, linked to the protocol and because of the opportunities it provides.

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