Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister and thank him for a great plan of action which will be accountable. I am also encouraged by his invitation to Members of this House to continue to feed ideas to him following the excellent debate we had recently. In his plan, IDA Ireland is mandated to locate 50% of foreign direct investment outside Dublin and Cork. I hope that a town like Ballinasloe, which has lost 1,000 industrial jobs in recent years, will be high on the IDA's priority list. That is not the feeling locally, however, despite the fact that we are located in the centre of Ireland with fantastic conditions, including education facilities. I ask the Minister to keep pressure on the IDA to look favourably on Ballinasloe.

I welcome the one-stop-shop concept, but who will decide the location in counties where there are two local authorities, such as Galway city and county? It would seem to make sense to locate one in the city and one in the east of the county, in Ballinasloe. Who will make the decisions on that?

We are obviously trying to encourage new entrepreneurs, but there is a disincentive.