Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I recently met many residents and business owners in Ballinasloe with some of the Deputy's colleagues and with Senator Dolan to do just that, namely, to focus on what we can do for that particular town. IDA Ireland owns other land in Ballinasloe and surrounding areas that is being marketed with some success over the years. In regard to that 50-acre site, I am quite interested in it. We looked at it before with a view to housing and so on. That, to me, is a perfect site that could be developed under the regional enterprise plan in conjunction with the local authorities putting that forward as a key action to grow an enterprise unit or enterprise centre and the opportunity to create jobs and the blend with education and skills. I do not think IDA Ireland has to be involved on that site at all. It has other land that it should prioritise but that is an opportunity. I agree with the Deputy that there is infrastructure in place. It is a perfect site, looked at through the eyes of the local authority with which the Deputy should work and bring forward a plan. There are mechanisms and funding opportunities in the regional enterprise plan to fund something like that and certainly to kick it off. There is a perfect opportunity to have an enterprise and education combination on that site to create local jobs and give an opportunity to Irish entrepreneurs who need access to a property solution in that area and to bring them back to create jobs in their own county. They are well capable of doing it with the right co-ordination.

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