James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House this evening to discuss the need to prioritise Granard, County Longford, as a location for a new factory to advance its development and meet the needs of the increasing population.

It is crucial to site a new factory in the town to advance its development, to ensure a more balanced distribution of job opportunities and to encourage the establishment of foreign investment in both the midlands as a whole and in this town, which is in the heart of northern County Longford.

While I am aware that progress in this regard is being achieved nationally and regionally, the challenge for a town such as Granard remains tough in an increasingly competitive market. Compliments must be paid to the existing family-run businesses in Granard, which have been the backbone of the community for many years. I will not mention specific names.

Investment in Ireland tends to favour the larger urban centres that are close to universities and institutes of technology. Combining the strengths of the midland gateway will be essential to boosting the region's overall economic development and Granard, as well as other towns and villages, has a complementary role within that structure in achieving the aim of balanced regional development. However, in the rush to achieve definitive regional autonomy, demands for local industry for economic sustainability in towns such as Granard, in which there is a growing population, must not be overlooked. It is important that the Government does not overlook Granard. It is the second largest town in County Longford and lies on the N55 route from the midlands region to the northern counties and as such is ideally placed as a location for a new enterprise, particularly in terms of North-South co-operation, given its geographical positioning.

Recent changes in the political and economic climate, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, have opened up a range of new opportunities for cross-Border co-operation. The potential gains from working together across the Border to achieve common goals are now being highlighted and could bring a necessary boost to Granard. Granard Town Council has made repeated representations to the IDA and Enterprise Ireland requesting that they prioritise the town. I compliment my colleagues, Councillors Maura Kilbride-Harkin and John Maguire, for their wholehearted support for advancing infrastructural development in and around Granard during recent years to make it even more attractive. However, the town suffers from the Government's inability to tackle Ireland's competitiveness. Stealth taxes and charges imposed on companies price them out of the market. The Government must get its act together as a matter of urgency to remedy this threat to the economic strength of towns such as Granard.

Granard is a CLÁR programme designated region and I do not have to outline to the Minister of State the implications of this for all those living in the town in terms of disadvantaged status and their overall needs. I ask the Minister of State to give priority to Granard and other towns in counties Longford and Westmeath. They are situated in the BMW region with all the problems associated with this group of counties and urgently need to be hoisted up the economic ladder. I would appreciate if the Minister of State ensured it was top of the list with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.

On numerous occasions I called on the Government to open the purse strings on BMW funding as the massive underspend of this allocation is a scandal. I have raised this issue time and again but the scandal of the retention of this valuable funding continues. I am sure there is also an underspend in the Minister of State's part of the country. How any Government can justify withholding moneys legitimately due to a region badly in need of support is certainly a matter for the electorate to consider. I find it shameful that such practices are allowed to continue.

Since I submitted this motion three weeks ago I have received a huge number of positive responses. I have played my part in encouraging industry to the town and I am confident something will come shortly but we need more than one industry. We need a series of industries for towns in counties Longford and Westmeath. Little was announced or delivered during the term of office of the Government.