Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take the Deputy's point. Balanced regional development is a key priority for the Government and all TDs who are from more rural parts of the country. I will raise the Deputy's specific questions with the Department following this. The number of jobs in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in County Cork has increased by 846 since 2023, with 26,026 now employed in the county by those companies. The regional impact of Enterprise Ireland's efforts is evident in the distribution of job growth across all nine regions, recording a positively increased number of employment figures.

I take the Deputy's point today, however. There are very specific areas within the county the Deputy is concerned about. We will see if we can get further information on that. As I said, positive creation was recorded across the LEOs in Cork, with 3,076 jobs created and supported by the 618 LEO clients in the county. These companies recorded a net gain of 119 jobs. The IDA clients are now employing 165,484 regionally, or 55% of the client base employment. There are 219 IDA companies in Cork, employing almost 50,000. I will come back to the Deputy more specifically on the areas he inquired about.

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