Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter. Kerry's economy has a strong traditional foundation built on tourism and agribusiness. Over the past 40 years, manufacturing companies have been attracted to the county with a particular focus on engineering, textiles and electronics. The profile of business is complemented by pharmaceutical and medical device companies and a growing technology sector fostered by the development Kerry technology park and the Institute of Technology Tralee.

However, global competitiveness and the decline in national competitiveness have resulted in massive upheaval in the business sector in the county. More than 2,000 redundancies have been notified to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment since 2000. For example, since 2002 only 335 jobs have been created in IDA-supported companies but 1,275 jobs have been lost. These figures were supplied by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Between February 2001 and February 2005 the number of people on the live register has increased by almost 1,000. In February 2001 the number was 5,860 and in February 2005 it was 6,803.

Furthermore, poor infrastructure provision accentuates the peripherality of Kerry, making it less attractive to potential sources of foreign direct investment. Kerry is not attracting foreign direct investment. Of greater concern is the absence of visits by potential investors. No targets for foreign direct investment appear to have been set for Kerry. Feedback from companies reveals that there is no apparent plan of action to attract investment to the county. IDA Ireland has organised few itineraries to County Kerry which is a cause of great concern.

The lack of foreign direct investment in the county sets it apart from other areas which have benefited significantly from investment by multinationals. The provision of modern infrastructure is crucial to changing this situation. The attraction of foreign direct investment and the modernisation of the county's infrastructure will not only increase employment in Kerry but will also result in more balanced regional development.

Industrial activity in County Kerry is far smaller in scale than that in Cork and in most other Munster counties. For example, in 2002, the most recent year for which relevant Central Statistics Office data are available, Kerry accounted for 1% of all industrial output in the State, compared with Cork's contribution of25%, Limerick's 10% and Tipperary's 6.7%. In 2003 and 2004 Kerry's unemployment figures did not reflect the national trend which registered a substantial reduction in the number of redundancies in 2004.

The Forfás employment forecast suggests that the textiles, clothing and agricultural sectors would be most prone to employment losses in the future. This trend has been particularly damaging to County Kerry which has a disproportionate share of agency assisted employment in industrial sectors vulnerable to job losses. In comparison with Cork, County Kerry attracts a negligible share of high value added investment in sectors such as financial international services.

I am pleased the Minister of State is here this evening and I hope he will pass this message to the senior Minister at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin. To reverse this trend all the State agencies should adopt a clear co-ordinated approach to promoting County Kerry as a location for sustainable value added businesses.

IDA Ireland is responsible for attracting foreign direct investment projects to Kerry. This includes greenfield projects and expansion of existing operations. Enterprise Ireland is responsible for the promotion of indigenous enterprise in south Kerry, while Shannon Development has responsibility for this function in north Kerry. It is important that all these agencies come together in a co-ordinated way.

Infrastructure is a critical issue in investment decision making. A region with deficits in any area of infrastructure is at a serious disadvantage in terms of attracting foreign direct investment and supporting indigenous industry and employment. Therefore, investment in the county's airport, rail and road network, telecommunications and waste management is critical to the economic growth of the region.

The enterprise strategy group report, Ahead of the Curve, classified infrastructure as an essential condition. The Government must commit to a full range of infrastructural projects for County Kerry and accelerate the introduction of the critical national infrastructure Bill promised in 2004. The region can then work towards delivering the remaining elements of the competitiveness equation as outlined in Ahead of the Curve.

I call on the Minister of State and the chief executive of IDA Ireland to visit Kerry immediately to meet a representative group, including the county manager, SIPTU, IBEC, the local chambers of commerce, SFADCo and any other relevant agency, to discuss a way forward and prioritise Kerry for foreign direct investment. I have requested the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, Deputy Cassidy, to bring that committee to Kerry, to do as it did in Wexford and will do in Cork in the coming weeks. It can discuss with local interests the challenge of bringing employment to the county.

Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter.

IDA Ireland is the agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment to Ireland. At the end of 2004 there were 2,022 people in permanent employment in 21 IDA Ireland supported companies in County Kerry. There is a diverse range of companies located in Kerry representing a variety of industry sectors such as pharmaceuticals, engineering and consumer products.

IDA Ireland continues to promote Kerry actively to potential investors from across the sectors in either manufacturing or international services via its network of overseas offices and project divisions and makes every effort to secure new investments for the area.

The investment projects that IDA Ireland seeks to win for Ireland as a whole are in more advanced, higher value activities in both manufacturing and services. Such projects are often related to research activities and require high level skills, infrastructure and business services, generating more high value products, services and jobs.

IDA Ireland's strategy for Kerry has a sectoral focus and is concentrated on achieving developments in the international services, engineering and ICT sectors, focusing particularly on the national spatial strategy-designated linked hubs of Tralee and Killarney, which are the principal towns in north and south Kerry respectively. Other primary urban centres include Listowel, Kenmare, Killorglin and Cahirciveen.

To continue to improve the attractiveness of south Kerry as a location for inward investment, IDA Ireland commenced site development works on its business and technology park at Tiernaboul, Killarney, County Kerry. The site area totals 4.66 hectares, approximately 12 acres. This site development work, which is now complete, involved significant landscaping, access development and site clearance work, all of which has resulted in the upgrading of the overall appeal of the location. The work undertaken has cost in the region of €1 million.

In addition, a local group of business people, under the business expansion scheme, have completed a new building of 14,716 sq. ft. on a site acquired from IDA Ireland in the IDA Ireland business and technology park, Tiernaboul, Killarney. IDA Ireland is actively marketing this facility as an alternative property solution to present to potential investors, but to date no client interest has been expressed.

Shannon Development is responsible for the provision of property solutions in north Kerry. IDA Ireland is actively marketing the Kerry technology park, adjacent to the institute of technology in Tralee, and the Listowel development centre as property solutions to potential overseas investors.

Under the framework of the national spatial strategy, IDA Ireland is participating in the regional planning guidelines process, with the South Western Regional Authority, to help give focus and priority to investment and development in Kerry. This will help support the effective internal development of the hub towns of Killarney and Tralee and will create the environment demanded by overseas investors, particularly in the areas of critical mass, infrastructure and the provision of high quality competitive telecommunications services.

Fundamental to regional success is the quality, calibre and drive of the third level education infrastructure in the region. Universities and institutes of technology are the foundations for development of more advanced economies. Kerry and the region are well served by the progressive and forward-thinking third level institutions such as the Tralee Institute of Technology, the universities of Limerick and Cork and the Cork Institute of Technology. IDA Ireland continues to work closely with these institutes in the development of new areas of opportunity through IDA Ireland's strategic business group and towards greater industry collaboration and research through its education skills and research group.

All these investments and initiatives will put Kerry in a position to compete more strongly for inward investment in the ICT, engineering and international services sectors. However, it should be recalled that, ultimately, decisions regarding where to locate a project, including what areas to visit as potential locations, are taken by overseas investors, not by IDA Ireland.

In addition to targeting potential new projects, IDA Ireland continues to work with the existing base of companies in the region with a view to supporting such companies with potential expansions and diversification of activities, which strengthen their presence in the region. This is as important as attracting new investment into a region.

Three such new expansion projects were announced in Kerry in 2004. Dollinger (Ireland) Limited, which has been in Killarney for over 20 years, is to be the global centre for production for its compressed air products range. Dollinger Ireland will have global responsibility for the development of this product. This €1.1 million investment creates over 70 new jobs over the next four years and has resulted in Dollinger relocating to larger premises in the IDA Ireland business park in the town. Liebherr Container Cranes Limited, which has been in Killarney for 46 years and is one of the longest established lDA Ireland supported companies in Ireland, is to recruit six highly skilled research and development personnel for a new research and development specialised team. The team, which will be of strategic importance to the parent company and will enhance the facility's role as the centre of control for Liebherr's container crane products, will develop products from concept through to product launch. In addition, any intellectual property developed will be the property of the Irish company.

In 2004, Fujisawa, one of the world's top 30 pharmaceutical companies, announced it had invested £17 million in the expansion of its Irish operation, Fujisawa Ireland Limited in Killorglin, County Kerry. The company has a total employment of 280 and has constructed a 27,000 sq. ft. extension to provide additional production space for the new operation. The Fujisawa plant in Killorglin is a pharmaceutical finishing plant and was established in 1991 with IDA Ireland support. Although initially proposed to employ only 27 employees it has grown significantly over the years to its current employment level of 280.

As Ireland is no longer a low cost location, it has found itself less able to compete on an international basis for basic manufacturing investment as other low cost economies — for example, India, China and the eastern European locations are now winning these types of mobile investment. In tandem with this, the global economic slowdown has meant there are fewer companies actively seeking to invest and consequently fewer companies visiting Ireland.

This means that the companies that decide to visit Ireland today have more sophisticated business requirements. Their key requirements in determining where they will visit, and consequently where they will potentially locate, tend to centre on the following: a high quality business environment with a large population base, ease of international access, proximity to other similar types of companies, adjacent to a third level college and often located on a business and technology park with high quality telecommunications infrastructure and top class buildings. As with other locations in Ireland, not all of these requirements can be met in Kerry and this is an inhibitor to attracting overseas investment.

IDA Ireland, however, continues to actively promote Kerry to potential investors from across all sectors, with every effort being made to secure new investments for the area. I am confident its efforts will be rewarded and have every confidence in its ability to succeed.

I will convey the Deputy's invitation to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin. I look forward, with my political responsibility, to my visit to Kerry next week.