Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and welcome his commitment to work with Longford County Council. We have an excellent case study in Longford in a triangle on the Ballinalee Road between Abbott Ireland, Avery Dennison and Technimark. We have in the region of 2,500 jobs in IDA Ireland-assisted and supported companies. That is a real template for how regional development and job creation can be a success. I am delighted to hear that the Minister of State will put his strength and knowledge behind efforts by Longford County Council to identify and secure that land. It is good to know the money is there in terms of the regional growth plans. We need to put the emphasis and responsibility very much on the local authority. It needs to be a tandem arrangement between it and IDA Ireland. The Minister of State will have seen from his visits to Longford that we have exhausted any land that is there and urgently need to identify new land. There is a significant onus on the county council to drive this and drive the next generation of job creation in the county.

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