Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These are Central Statistics Office figures. There is a perception that all jobs are going to Dublin but that is not borne out by the statistics. There is a good spread. I agree with Senators that we need a stronger regional strategy.

I will be the first Minister to put in place a regional enterprise strategy, which I will do over the next 12 months. We will go into each region, sit down with the stakeholders, decide where the competitive strengths are, and to take up Senator Mooney’s point, the Drumshanbo food cluster is a real strength and can be developed. We will want to give a leg up to companies that have the capacity and ambition to build and export. Yes, by all means, there should be a regional enterprise strategy but we need a realistic debate about this. Senator White knows particularly well that FDI companies represent 8% of our employment. A total of 92% of employment is in sectors driven by Irish-based companies. Too much of the regional debate is just about the IDA. It has a role but the 92% have a very important role. We need to develop entrepreneurship.