Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. We had very good meetings with the Cavan and Monaghan LEOs and the local authorities as well. The Minister of State knows the topography of Cavan and Monaghan and knows that the development of sites there is very expensive. I and other public representatives supported Cavan County Council on one particular project. The council drew down limited Government support to develop a site, service it and make it accessible through building access roads, just to enable buildings to be put in place. The council got less than €1 million in support. We hope that buildings on that site will, in the future, enable the creation of more than 300 jobs. That would be a very significant return on a very small Government investment. The local authority had to put up very substantial funds itself, funds that it does not readily have. Local authorities in places like Cavan and Monaghan have a very small rates base and they are stretched in terms of coming up with matching funding to draw down very worthwhile Government support for different schemes.

We need a dedicated fund that would incentivise the private sector and-or enable local authorities and LEOs to provide the workspace directly in the enterprise centres themselves.

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