Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When the Deputy was elected to the Dáil in 2011, unemployment was 15.6% nationally. It is now at 3.9%. Much of that is down to the fact that people like the Minister, Deputy Coveney, visited ten large multinationals in California at the start of the year to talk about Ireland not only as a place to maintain investment but also to look for new FDI, in particular in places like County Louth and the Xerox campus in Dundalk. There are huge opportunities there. There will be consistent efforts from the Government to protect existing jobs, build new ones and create a strong economic environment for FDI across the regions. The IDA is always looking for new opportunities or to revive opportunities in terms of land banks and places where there are opportunities. The site the Deputy mentioned in Dundalk is a great opportunity. There is net job growth in Dundalk, but we want to maintain that.

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