Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Carrick-on-Suir is a lovely and progressive town with a population of approximately 5,000. Carrick-on-Suir Town Council has been involved in upgrading certain facilities in the town in recent years. It has improved the town's quality of life by pursuing a host of developments, such as the installation of quality public lighting, the provision of additional car parking facilities, the improvement of roads and footpaths and the development of a new children's play area. The town has an excellent location on the banks of the River Suir, which is a major asset to the town, and on the northern side of the Comeragh Mountains. It benefits from good transport facilities, such as the N24 national primary route and the railway line from Limerick to Waterford and Rosslare. It is near the ports of Waterford and Rosslare. As I have said, it is a fine and progressive town.

The level of unemployment in Carrick-on-Suir is totally and completely unacceptable. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, issued a press release on Wednesday, 2 March last following the announcement of the results of the national housing survey for the fourth quarter of 2004. He rightly suggested that the figures were positive and suggested they indicate that the Government's policies are working extremely well. He said the Government will continue to pursue the thrust of its successful approach, particularly by maintaining its emphasis on Ireland's competitiveness. While such sentiments are fine, they do not seem to have an impact in Carrick-on-Suir. It is not good enough that unemployment blackspots like that town are being swept under the carpet.

According to the most recent statistics, 910 of the approximately 5,000 people living in Carrick-on-Suir — just short of 20% — are on the live register. It is absolutely unacceptable that the rate of unemployment in the town is four or five times larger than the national rate. I agree with those in the town who feel that it has been abandoned by the Government and the Minister, Deputy Martin. Investment is taking place throughout the country and many places are benefiting from development and job creation. We need to ensure that towns like Carrick-on-Suir receive their fair share of that investment, however, rather than being forgotten. Many enterprises in the town, such as Irish Leathers and Schiesser, have closed down over the years.

Carrick-on-Suir, which is involved in the RAPID programme, was identified in a report some years ago as being in need of employment. There are high rates of unemployment and poverty in the town. In that context, it is shocking that the Government did not include Carrick-on-Suir in its decentralisation programme. The people of the town feel abandoned by the Government, which has done nothing to bring additional employment there. They are calling for the establishment of a jobs task force for Carrick-on-Suir to ensure that it gets its fair share of new employment. The sooner that is done, the better. The town has had a high level of unemployment for a number of years — it is not a problem that has developed overnight, but it needs to be addressed. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, can confirm that the Government, particularly the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, is prepared to do something positive for the town by establishing a task force to assist the creation of jobs there.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, to which I respond on behalf of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin. According to the latest quarterly household survey, which was published by the Central Statistics Office on 2 March last, the unemployment rate in the south-east region is 5.6%. While that is above the national average of 4.3%, it is a significant decrease on the figure in the previous survey, which indicated an unemployment rate of 6.2% in the south-east region. The live register figures indicate that the number of people on the live register in south Tipperary, including Carrick-on-Suir, is decreasing. The live register figures are prepared on a monthly basis. The figure for south Tipperary in February 2005 was 3,465, down from 3,532 in January 2005. The figure for February 2004, for the purposes of year-on-year comparison, was 3,889. There were 971 people on the live register in Carrick-on-Suir in February 2004. That figure is now down to 910. This is the group on whose behalf Deputy Healy made a plea.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Some 20% of the population is on the dole.

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, but that represents progress given the figure of 971 which obtained the preceding year.

Carrick-on-Suir is the second largest town in Tipperary South Riding. It is ideally placed to benefit from its proximity to both the gateway location of Waterford city and the nearby county town of Clonmel where IDA Ireland is concentrating its marketing campaign to attract overseas companies to the region. An example of this is the announcement in May 2004 by Guidant Corporation of a 1,000-person job expansion at its Clonmel plant, with jobs expected to come on stream from 2005 to 2010.

lDA Ireland also has a five-acre site in Carrick-on-Suir and this is in the process of being sold to South Tipperary County Council. It is anticipated that the council, perhaps in partnership with local interests, will develop the site to help generate economic activity in the town.

The Government's strategy for achieving a better regional distribution of overseas mobile investment away from the larger urban centres, such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway, is to ensure that companies have credible alternatives which meet their demands in developing first-class business locations. These include infrastructure with easy access to international airports, larger population centres with a strong base of third level graduates, and the availability of high quality business and technology parks with attractive offices and industrial buildings. This strategy is also supported by South Tipperary County Council, which believes economic activity in the county needs to be prioritised in Clonmel, where it will be possible to develop and achieve a first-class business location and cluster development in the life sciences industry.

On south Tipperary, the strategy for attracting inward investment includes focusing on the growth sectors of international services, health care and pharmaceuticals. In addition, the information and communications sector is likely to have potential for the county in the medium and longer term. IDA Ireland is also working with existing clients in the area to encourage further expansion and new activities. In addition to Guidant, these include Pall Corporation, ALZA and Merck Sharpe & Dohme.

Enterprise Ireland also continues to promote job creation in south Tipperary. Its job creation activity is focused on the creation of new jobs through supporting entrepreneurs setting up new high-potential start-up companies, the retention and creation of new jobs in existing companies and enhancing the innovation capability of Ireland at national and regional levels through support for research in companies and third level institutions.

Enterprise Ireland works with companies to assist them grow their sales and exports and improve innovation so they can compete in world markets. The agency is encouraging companies to adopt new technologies to add value to their products and processes. In the past three years, Enterprise Ireland has made payments of over €4.5 million to client companies in south Tipperary to assist them with development projects.

The local county enterprise board and the county development board have a very important role to play in addressing industrial development in Carrick-on-Suir. I understand that last October the south Tipperary county manager set up a working group to deal with unemployment issues in Carrick-on-Suir. The purpose of this group is to prepare a development plan for the area.

The Minister is of the view that further initiatives regarding job creation should be taken under the auspices of the county development board, with which the industrial development agencies are already involved. This would be in line with the position adopted in other areas of the country. In recent years, we have steered away from establishing task forces and, in keeping with this policy, it is not proposed to establish the specific task force referred to by the Deputy on this occasion.