Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in welcoming the significant announcement made this morning by the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, regarding making available €250 million in the next few years. Some €150 million of these moneys will go towards building nine manufacturing facilities, strategically located throughout the country, one of which will be in County Galway. I will make a strong case for the Galway location to be in the east of the county, in Ballinasloe, where 1,000 industrial jobs have been lost over the past decade. I also welcome the fact that €100 million will be made available to Enterprise Ireland to invest in local projects with good prospects of creating significant jobs in the next few years. It is gratifying to see a Tuam-based company, Steeltech Garden Sheds, announce a significant expansion this morning that will create 100 new jobs in Tuam. We must take advantage of every possible opportunity and it is welcome that the regional action plans for jobs will be completed and published by July. The plan for the midlands is due to be published in the next couple of weeks and the plans for the other regions will be rolled out in July. We support these plans.

Tourism is strongly linked with our economic recovery and I welcome the significant announcement made by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, this morning that this year a number of iconic buildings will be part of global greening for St. Patrick's Day such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and the Sacré Coeur basilica in Paris.

This will add to the very significant number of buildings throughout the world that will help us by recognising St. Patrick's Day. We must build on the wonderful work being done by Tourism Ireland promoting tourism throughout the world. In 2014, there was a very significant 14% increase in visitor numbers to the country. On St. Patrick's Day, we get a window of opportunity that no other country in the world gets and we must take advantage of it and build on it. I hope our Ministers will travel throughout the world promoting Ireland this St. Patrick's Day because our tourism industry depends on it.