Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again thank Deputy Harkin for raising this important issue. I do not dispute the numbers quoted by the Deputy and I agree with her that strong regions benefit the entire country. However, as I often say and as is often said to me, GDP is not everything. GDP must come with a very big health warning. The presence of Apple alone throws the numbers for GDP in the south-west region while the presence of Microsoft alone throws the numbers dramatically for the eastern region. When I talk to people as I am sure is the case with the Deputy, they never ask me about GDP or what the GDP per capitais. They ask me about jobs and incomes. When it comes to jobs in the Border region since this Government was elected, there are 17,600 more people at work. This is significant. In the Border region, including Sligo and Leitrim, which is represented by the Deputy, and Donegal, nearly 20,000 more people are at work than was the case when this Government came into office in 2020. Since then, we have seen incomes rise.

Every Minister in the Government is responsible for regional development. Obviously the lead is taken by the Minister for Rural and Community Development but the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment is also responsible for it along with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, me as Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance. We are prioritising job growth in every part of Ireland. More than half of jobs now created through the IDA are outside Dublin, two thirds of jobs created by Enterprise Ireland are outside Dublin and 80% of the jobs created by local enterprise offices are outside Dublin. This is really significant because what is crucial in terms of closing the gap between better-off regions and less well-off regions is good well-paid jobs and that is our strategy.

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