Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. IDA Ireland has made considerable property investments in Kerry under its current strategy, including this year with the acquisition of over 16 ha of land at Kerry Technology Park. IDA Ireland is now working to identify a suitable site within this land bank for the construction of an advance building solution. Securing planning permission on the construction of the building will take some time such that IDA Ireland cannot outline a specific date by which the project will be completed, although it is looking to progress the project as quickly as possible. Kerry Technology Park is already home to internationally recognised companies, such as JRI America and Astellas, both companies that the Deputy will know well, I am sure. In September 2023, Astellas announced its intention to build a €330 million state-of-the-art facility to operate in the park.

Under its current strategy IDA Ireland is committed to delivering 19 advance building solutions across six regions in 15 locations, with eight buildings now complete, a further five to be on-site in 2024 and the remainder in the planning and site selection stages. IDA Ireland will continue to maintain a focus on its property portfolio in regional locations to support the project pipeline, including in Kerry, and will continue to position Kerry for vital and in-person site visits for prospective companies in 2023 and beyond.

The completion of the Macroom and Ballyvourney bypass will make a big difference in getting itineraries down into Kerry. Regarding the number of people employed in IDA Ireland companies in the south west, Cork is very dominant, having 50,000 or so people employed. We would certainly like to see more visits and announcements for Kerry, which I think can happen.

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