Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. We all join him in welcoming the continuing reduction in the unemployment figures. However, to pick up on the theme explored by Senator Kelly, this is not much comfort to people in the part of the country in which I reside. On Friday last, 160 people walked out of their employment at the former MBNA facility in Carrick-on-Shannon and will not be returning. The Minister is aware of the facility and has visited it on a number of occasions. I appreciate the fact that he is also aware of the impact of the continuing loss of jobs there. The question we must ask is what is happening. This is a state-of-the-art facility and the workforce there has developed skills relating to the financial services sector. This makes the members of that workforce somewhat unique in my part of the country. All of that to which I refer will be lost unless immediate action is taken to try to attract study visits to Carrick-on-Shannon from potential employers.

I am not going to seek to be negative in my contribution to this debate but God knows I have reasons to be negative with regard to job creation in County Leitrim. There are some great positives in evidence. Will the Minister address the MNBA issue and provide some indication of what is happening with regard to either the provision of alternative employment or the restructuring of the facility? What is IDA Ireland doing about the matter at present? Is the Minister in possession of any information he could provide to the House in order to give some sort of comfort to the people in my area?

There is another issue which I would like the Minister to address. Why is it that so many jobs are being created in Dublin?