Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

My questions referred to towns in south Donegal, including Donegal town, Bundoran and Ballyshannon. It would be more honest if the Minister of State were to inform us that the Government and IDA Ireland had given up on attracting foreign direct investment to these towns, especially Bundoran and Ballyshannon. We are all aware of plans to sell lands which IDA Ireland holds in these areas. Although the Minister of State referred to the Government continually prioritising Donegal, of the 12 companies located there by IDA Ireland, only two are located in Donegal South-West. They are at the lower end in terms of the number of jobs they provide, welcome though they are. There has not been an itinerary hosted by IDA Ireland or the Government since 2004 or 2005.

I welcome the new strategy and the fact that the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, was in charge at the time of its launch. It is a proposal for which I called in the report, Awakening the West. I completely reject the view of Fine Gael that all IDA Ireland jobs should be located in Dublin and Cork. On behalf of the towns mentioned, I make the case that they have a great deal to offer. It is fine to set a 50% target for places outside Dublin and Cork, but let us consider south Donegal, rather than Letterkenny, which always seems to be the case. Let us consider Donegal town, Ballyshannon and Bundoran and what these towns have to offer. If we just scratched the surface, we would be quite surprised at those towns' potential to help rebuild our economy.