Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome this opportunity to raise an important issue for County Laois, which is the need for IDA Ireland supported jobs and investment in the county. Before I prepared for this debate, I decided to take a strong proactive and positive approach towards working with IDA Ireland to secure jobs and investment in County Laois. All too often when dealing with this matter at local level, too many people take the easy option of attacking IDA Ireland for having a very bad record in respect of County Laois but it has its worst record in the county. This approach on its own has not produced any results. While IDA Ireland has a bad record, I want to concentrate on the positive reasons this can now be corrected.

County Laois is an attractive place for investment and we would welcome foreign investment. The county has an excellent workforce and, surprisingly, 11,500 highly educated people leave Laois by car, van, bus or train to work in other areas, mainly in Dublin. Recently, the local authority conducted a major survey on them. More than 6,000 people responded. A total of 1,671 work in business and IT, more than 1,400 in healthcare, more than 1,000 in training and development, 1,000 in manufacturing and another 1,000 people in retail. A number of people from Laois also work on construction projects outside the county. The regional office of IDA Ireland welcomed the survey and stated it has increased its understanding of the skills profile of County Laois and that it will be helpful for potential investors when considering where to place their investment. Having this insight is important for IDA Ireland.

The survey also shows that a workforce of up to 400,000 people lives within a one-hour commute of Laois, which is also important. Everybody now accepts the central location of County Laois. It is near Dublin but not in Dublin. Land, building, investment, rates and rent are not at Dublin price levels. It is much more economical to set up in County Laois. The roads are of the highest quality of any county in Ireland. We have the M7 and M8 motorways from Dublin to Cork, Limerick and Kerry. We have the best network of motorways in the country. We have outstanding hotels and services. We have a lot of zoned land, particularly in the Portlaoise area. I want IDA Ireland to concentrate on the site it owns on the Mountrath road in Portlaoise. As I mention Mountrath, I want to particularly mention members of the Men's Shed from Mountrath who are visiting the Dáil today. I want IDA Ireland to target the site in its ownership, together with the site that Laois County Council acquired at junction 17 on the M7 and M8 motorways as they turn into County Laois. There is now no good reason investment should not come to the county.

On 16 February, I took the first initiative of its nature when I invited Mr. Martin Shanahan, the chief executive of IDA Ireland, and Ms Julie Sinnamon, the chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, together with local businesses in Laois to have a meeting in Portlaoise. It was the first time the two chief executives ever came to the county for such a meeting. Its purpose was to put Laois on the map and, more important, to put it in the minds of those two key chief executives. They agreed on the day they would return in 12 months, which will be next February, to discuss progress. I look forward to this. I gave them a reasonable period of 12 months and we hope that between now and then there will be substantial progress, site visits and perhaps, with a bit of luck, some good announcement for County Laois. If it is in Portlaoise, everybody will be happy.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for promoting County Laois, as he always does when he gets an opportunity to do so in the Dáil and rightly so. I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, who cannot be present.

The Department and its agencies continue to highlight the benefits of expanding or locating in all of our regions, including County Laois. County Laois is marketed as part of IDA Ireland's midlands region and the agency continues to work hard to create further employment opportunities in the county and to increase the number of multinational companies located there. There are two multinational companies based in Laois, which shows the potential for the county to attract new foreign direct investment and in retaining existing multinational investment over many years. In July, SkOUT Secure Intelligence announced it will open its new Europe, Middle East and Africa, EMEA, headquarters in Portlaoise, creating 30 high value cutting edge cybersceurity jobs in its initial phase. During the summer, Standex Limited celebrated the 40th anniversary of the opening of its operation in Mountmellick, County Laois. Both of these companies clearly represent the positive, enterprise-focused environment for international business that has been fostered in the county.

IDA Ireland actively encourages prospective investors to visit Laois and these site visits represent an important tool through which companies can be encouraged to locate in the county. While site visits are not necessarily linked to job creation, I am heartened that there had been seven site visits as of the third quarter of 2018 compared to four site visits for all of 2017. This positive trend reflects IDA Ireland's ongoing and intensive marketing efforts to promote Laois to as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment. The availability of serviced land and buildings in advance of demand is a key element in IDA Ireland's ability to encourage its clients to locate in a particular county. IDA Ireland operates a business and technology park in Portlaoise with approximately 24 acres of available land for investment. This site is being actively marketed to IDA Ireland clients through its network of offices in Ireland and overseas. IDA Ireland also regularly engages with key stakeholders on the ground in Laois, including local authorities, public bodies, the education sector and companies from its client base and the indigenous sector.

I want to emphasise that creating jobs in the regions is a priority for IDA Ireland and the Department. The Department is focused on doing everything it can to deliver the fairest possible spread of investment throughout the country. The energy and resources we have invested into regional growth is, as the evidence illustrates, now producing results. In 2017, for example, IDA Ireland delivered 99 regional investments with 45% of new jobs created outside Dublin. A total of 30,000 new foreign direct investment jobs have been created outside the capital over the past three years. We will continue to do our utmost to encourage further such job growth across all parts of Ireland in the time ahead.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response on the overall approach of IDA Ireland but I want to concentrate specifically on Laois. In recent times, mainly through Enterprise Ireland, Irish businesses have made announcements about Portlaoise. These include Glanbia's cheese plant, SkOUT, as the Minister of State mentioned, and the announcement by Mr. McDonagh. People might not be aware that Portlaoise is the fastest growing town in Ireland based on the recent census. It has a population of 25,000. It has outstanding new schools. Every primary and secondary school in Portlaoise is brand new and was built in recent years. No other town can boast this. It is a good place for people to raise families and we want families to move there.

I want to put on record the official IDA Ireland position in County Laois. At the end of last year, there were 119 IDA Ireland supported jobs in County Laois. By 1 million miles, this is the worst figure of any county in the country. All the surrounding counties fare better on this front. They also fare better when it comes to investment and site visits. However, I appreciate and acknowledge the increase in site visits this year. IDA Ireland needs to step it up and keep it going. It is in their minds and I look forward to the chief executives of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland coming back to Laois, as they committed to do, in the coming spring. I will work with them to promote the county and I ask for a positive attitude towards IDA Ireland investment in the county. It is something we would all welcome. I look forward to an announcement before then. I am putting pressure on IDA Ireland day in, day out. I am not just doing it on a once a year basis, I am doing it constantly and I will continue to raise the matter in the Dáil and directly and personally with IDA Ireland until we get a good positive result for County Laois. This is what we want to see. I look forward to this happening sooner rather than later.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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We have made progress in creating opportunities in Laois and we are determined to achieve more. Total employment in Enterprise Ireland supported companies in Laois now stands at 1,473.

The Deputy may say that is not an awful lot but, by comparison with the figure for 2016, it is an increase of 8%. It is about 3% above the national average.

It is important to emphasise that foreign direct investment forms only one part of the investment in regional locations. As the Deputy is aware, Laois is fortunate to have a strong base of indigenous investment and employment in companies supported by Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise office. There are 55 companies supported by Enterprise Ireland, employing a total of 1,473 people. Last year alone, the number of Enterprise Ireland-supported jobs in Laois increased by 8%, with 94 additional new jobs added.

My Department is always open to the Deputy. If he needs to seek a meeting with officials to discuss further developments in County Laois, the impact of the midlands action plan for jobs and so on, he may do so. The action plan covers counties Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath. Some 15,300 additional jobs were created in the period 2015 to 2018. Some of these will have been created in County Laois. I offer the Deputy an opportunity to meet officials in my Department at any point in order to discuss investment in County Laois by foreign direct investment companies. If he needs to meet officials from Enterprise Ireland, he should feel free to contact my Department. We will absolutely facilitate a meeting for him.