Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter again. Regrettably, the response I received on the last occasion I raised it was grossly inadequate and I hope the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Kelleher, will see fit to providing a proper response today.

The mid-west is being bypassed. The previous response I received from the Minister of State referred to the national spatial strategy for the region and a commitment to balanced regional development but this is not evident on the ground. The Shannon-Heathrow slot is about to be removed and, while we welcome CityJet's plan to provide services to Charles de Gaulle Airport, nothing could be further from the truth than the Government spin that it represents a better solution than Heathrow. We are losing 40 cities worldwide with the discontinuation of the Heathrow service, so it is no substitute. In terms of the national spatial strategy, Limerick, Shannon and Ennis have been designated a gateway hub, yet there is no rail link between Limerick and Shannon.

IDA Ireland reports indicate that between 2002 and 2006, jobs in Limerick increased by only 139, whereas IDA Ireland jobs increased in Dublin by more than 3,000, in Cork by 1,800 and in Galway by more than 1,500. These figures speak for themselves. Other counties with smaller populations than Limerick's also experienced increases. Kildare received an additional 742 IDA Ireland jobs, Waterford received 529 and Leitrim received 407. I am not begrudging these areas their jobs but Limerick and the mid-west have been let behind. In the past several months, we have lost 100 jobs in Full Flex and more in Atlas Aluminium. We have had no major IDA Ireland job announcements for the past five years.

The Minister of State's response made no reference to the future. He massaged figures in respect of the years up to 2006 without mentioning 2007 and beyond. He cited figures in respect of 2004 onwards but there was nothing in the mid-west between 2002 and 2004. One company came to the region in each of the years 2005 and 2006. The indications are that some companies will come in 2007. Every company is welcome but the region does not have large-scale employers or IDA Ireland backed jobs.

I look forward to the Minister of State's response, which I hope will bring good news for the mid-west. All we have heard for the past several months has been bad news. The Government does not fully understand the consequences of the loss of the Heathrow route for the region in terms of connectivity and employment. More than 400 people are employed by Aer Lingus in Shannon, many of whom live in my constituency of Limerick East. The multinational companies brought IDA Ireland backed jobs to the region because they were promised the connectivity now being lost. I hope the Minister of State will indicate that IDA Ireland will bring jobs to the mid-west as a priority, that the region will experience balanced development and that the national spatial strategy will manifest itself in investment in the region rather than rhetoric.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not intend to engage in rhetoric but will outline the issues involved. I thank Deputy O'Donnell for raising this matter on the Adjournment. I have already clarified the issues which he raised last week.

A central goal for this Government is the achievement of balanced regional development. The attractiveness of Limerick for inward investment lies in its position as a regional gateway with the critical mass and infrastructure necessary to attract mobile investment to the region. The national spatial strategy provides a framework for the development of the Limerick-Shannon gateway. IDA Ireland's regional plans reflect the strategy with an emphasis on the gateway and hub locations. IDA Ireland is the national agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment to the country. The IDA Ireland mid-west region, which consists of counties Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary, has a total population of 361,028 people. Limerick and Shannon have been designated as the gateway for the region under the national spatial strategy. IDA Ireland is responsible for building the FDI base in the region with the exception of the Shannon free zone which is the responsibility of Shannon Development.

IDA Ireland has focused on working continuously with the existing client base to deepen the global strategic importance of existing Irish operations within the parent corporations and attracting high quality new names to the region. IDA Ireland's mid-west team has been developing relationships with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to use its influence to improve the overall environment for economic development. The mid-west has a strong base of overseas companies which are mainly located in Raheen and the National Technology Park in Limerick and in the Shannon free zone. There are 49 IDA Ireland client companies in the region employing almost 11,000 people and employment has remained steady over the past three years. Agency supported employment accounts for 17.3% of total employment in the region as compared to 14.8% nationally.

The IDA Ireland strategy for the mid-west region is to grow a knowledge economy by winning new FDI in innovation driven, high value and high skills sectors; to work with our existing FDI company base to expand their presence in the region by increasing both the number and the scale of functions being carried out and by adding further strategic functions; to provide modern property solutions with supporting infrastructure; and to work with local authorities and other partners to influence the creation of the right infrastructural environment to help win new FDI throughout the region.

In line with Government policy, the IDA is committed to the development of Limerick and the mid-west and works in co-operation with Shannon Development to that end.

The position in Limerick is that the city and county have a strong base of foreign direct investment jobs. According to the 2006 Forfás survey, agency-supported foreign direct investment, FDI, employment in Limerick consists of 35 companies employing 9,139 people in permanent jobs and a further 1,689 in temporary and contract employment. Employment in agency-supported FDI companies represents approximately 11% of the labour force in the county and compares favourably with the national average of approximately 8%. Limerick's FDI employment base is dominated by the information, communications and technology, ICT, sector, with companies such as Dell, Analog Devices and Banta representing approximately 50% of FDI employment in the county. The life sciences sector makes up approximately 26 % of FDI employment, followed by globally traded business, which accounts for 16%.

The existing base of companies is performing well and has evolved to meet the challenges of globalisation and Ireland's transition from a low cost location. This transition has seen a number of companies transferring lower value activities to eastern Europe and Asia. More importantly however, it has resulted in companies expanding their remit to include higher value activities. Examples of such investment include Dell's enterprise command centre, Cook's European customer and financial centre, Analog Devices's move to 8" wafer fabrication and Vistakon's €100 million expansion.

The investment projects that the IDA seeks to attract to Limerick are very different to those of the past. Today, it relies on the skills of the people of Limerick and on a strong business and educational and research infrastructure to pull investment into the county. The IDA's strategy is to reposition the county as a hot-spot for knowledge-based industry. As an example of the success of this approach, Northern Trust's decision to locate its second Irish fund administration centre in Limerick has considerably increased the profile of the mid-west region as a location for financial services activities.

IDA Ireland works closely with educational institutions to develop the skill sets necessary to attract high value-added employment. The agency also works closely with the existing base of employers to encourage additional investment, particularly in activities such as research and development, customer support and back-office functions.

Shannon Development's role complements that of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland by providing bespoke property solutions for FDI and indigenous clients in the region. Responsibility for the attraction of FDI and indigenous industry to the Shannon free zone lies exclusively with Shannon Development. The free zone is one of Ireland's most competitive business locations, with 7,188 people working in more than 100 companies as of December 2006. The zone continues to perform well against a very difficult global business background and a healthy pipeline of investment augurs well for the future.

Shannon Development is at an advanced stage in overseeing a comprehensive master plan to regenerate the Shannon free zone and adjoining areas. The master plan is being prepared by external consultants in close co-operation with all key stakeholders, including IDA Ireland and Shannon Airport, and will serve as the basis for regeneration and development of the zone in the coming years.

While employment in IDA-supported companies fell in the early years of the decade, it has recovered significantly in recent years with a total increase of nearly 9% between 2004 and 2006. In the period 2004 to 2006, eight investment proposals with the potential to create more than 500 new jobs were approved. During this period there were 15 new research and development investment proposals from existing IDA client companies, which were committed to a combined investment of approximately €12 million.

On the issue of connectivity, the connection to Charles de Gaulle Airport is a very welcome development because it has significant connections worldwide and I know Deputy O'Donnell will welcome this proposal. I am confident that the strategies and policies being pursued by IDA Ireland in the region, together with the ongoing commitment to regional development and the roll-out of the national development plan, will continue to bear fruit in terms of overseas investment and jobs in the mid-west region.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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I wish the Acting Chairman and the Minister of State a happy Christmas. While I take the Minister of State's point, I do not agree fully with him in respect of Charles de Gaulle Airport.