Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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38. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she is satisfied with the regional spread of organised site visits by IDA Ireland in 2015 and in 2016 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15815/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question is in the name of Deputy Frank O'Rourke, who is absent. As the question was tabled before the introduction of the new rules, I understand it is possible for it to be taken by Deputy Niall Collins, who has been nominated in the absence of Deputy O'Rourke. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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This question has been tabled against the backdrop of the two-tier recovery we are experiencing in this country. The quality of the recovery being experienced in Dublin and the greater Dublin area is not being mirrored in the rest of the country. Can the Minister comment on that and on the role being played by IDA Ireland in this regard?

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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While I am satisfied that the position is improving, I want to see more being done. I expect IDA Ireland to promote every location actively. There is no doubt that site visits outside main population centres have increased. Since 2015, IDA Ireland has been working towards the targets set out in its strategy, Winning: Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019. Under this strategy, ambitious investment targets have been set on a regional basis for the first time. IDA Ireland aims to increase overall investment by 30% to 40% in each region. Statistics compiled by IDA Ireland already show a steady increase in the number of site visits outside Dublin. In 2015, some 57% of site visits were to locations outside Dublin, which represented an increase on the 2014 figure of 43%. Figures for the first quarter of 2016 show that this trend is continuing, with 58% of visits so far this year being outside Dublin. This renewed emphasis on regional development is achieving results already. A record 18,983 new jobs were created by IDA Ireland client companies in 2015. Of these, some 53% are based outside Dublin, compared to 49% in 2014.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Government's belated acknowledgment that there is a two-tier recovery afoot, as this was continuously denied prior to the recent general election. Now that this problem has been acknowledged, we need to tackle it constructively. I will put a couple of facts on the record. In 2015, Dublin received 242 of the 565 IDA Ireland site visits, or 43% of the total. The Minister has quoted this statistic. However, this figure increased to over 50% when applied to the greater Dublin area, which comprises Dublin and the overspill of the city into surrounding counties of Kildare, Wicklow, Meath and Louth. It was clear that this activity was still concentrated in the Dublin region in 2015. This pattern continued in the first quarter of 2016, when almost 40% of all site visits involved locations in our capital city. It is important to note that counties Carlow, Cavan, Laois, Monaghan and Roscommon received no site visits.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I will let him in again.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister take a personal interest in this matter with IDA Ireland? Will she report back to us on it when Question Time resumes next month? Perhaps she will be able to tell us what IDA Ireland intends to do to address the absence of site visits in those counties, in particular, and also in other parts of the country.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I note the Deputy's comments. I assure him that I will take an interest in this matter. I can tell him that the eight regional development plans are on my desk. We are working our way through them. We will be meeting the implementation group soon. We will sit down to review the progress that has been made on the regional plans so far in 2016, with a view to developing the 2017 regional plans. I have a visited a number of counties since my appointment as Minister three or four weeks ago. I will continue to do so. I will make sure to meet the stakeholders in the regions who are driving this agenda and who will be driving the regional plans. It is absolutely on my radar. I will make sure this happens.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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I have three questions. First, I welcome the Minister's statement that 58% of all visits this year have been to locations outside Dublin, but I ask her to break it down for us. If she cannot break it down by county, perhaps she can do so by region. If she does not have that information to hand, she might forward it on to us as soon as possible. Second, I suggest that the manner in which we deal with this issue from a statistical perspective needs to be changed. We need to differentiate between Dublin and the greater Dublin area, as defined by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. In future, the figures for visits and jobs created should be broken down across three categories: Dublin, the greater Dublin area and the area outside of that. The conurbation around Dublin faces the same issues, such as housing but they just happen to be in Kildare, Meath or Louth, for example. Third, arising from the breakdown of site visits, is the Minister happy that sufficient property is available in the regions? I ask this in the context of the creation by the previous Government of a fund for advance factories and pieces of land. Is the Minister happy that the property portfolio is in place and is accessible?

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I am never happy and am always striving for more. I will make sure land is available for advance factories. We are building three such factories at the moment. There are plans for others. We want to make it easier to do business in Ireland. I will make sure advance factories are available. We are talking about IDA Ireland today, but I am also working with local people on the ground, with Enterprise Ireland and with the local enterprise offices to make sure there are jobs. I refer not only to multinational jobs, but also to foreign direct investment jobs. Deputy Kelly also asked me to give him a breakdown of the 58% figure. I have provided some figures in response to parliamentary questions. I will come back to him with a breakdown of all the figures.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I call Deputy Lawless.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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I asked three questions.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I will come back to the other one.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to raise a concern about IDA Ireland site visits to County Kildare, an area with which the Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, is familiar. A reply to a parliamentary question I submitted a month back illustrated that County Kildare had 13 site visits between 2011 and 2015, during the term of the previous Government. Seven of these arose in the final year of the then Government's term, 2015, which was essentially the general election year. In each of the four preceding years, there was a single visit. Visits spiked as the general election approached but were neglected for the four years prior to that. I hope we will not see a recurrence of this with IDA visits accumulating as we approach whenever the next election may be. Let us hope they are scattered across the term and we see more than one a year to County Kildare over the next several years.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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On Deputy Alan Kelly's question as to whether the visits will be to Dublin, the greater Dublin area or the regions, I will make sure to have those figures.

On County Kildare specifically, the message from my office, loud and clear, to IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland is to get out to the regions and rural Ireland. I probably am a good Minister in this regard because I am from rural Ireland and I want to see it develop.

It should not be forgotten what happened between 2009 and 2011. The economy absolutely collapsed. To be fair to IDA Ireland, it put its shoulder to the wheel and brought jobs into Ireland. It is easier and more economic for the IDA to ensure the jobs come to Dublin. However, the message now is regional Ireland. Backing up that message are eight good regional plans.