Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join other speakers in applauding the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, on today's launch of the Government's new regional action plan for jobs. Many have argued that the economic recovery is a Dublin-only phenomenon and across the world's economies it has been shown that economic recovery must take place in capital cities before the effect is felt outside urban areas.

This new strategy is geared towards dealing with growth outside Dublin. The plan will see €250 million spent over five years, with €150 million going to IDA Ireland to develop infrastructure to attract companies to the regions, outside the urban centres. This strategy is crucial in helping to revitalise regions which have lagged behind in the recovery, while stemming the flow of emigration of young people from regional and rural areas. It is easy to forget that when the Government took office we were haemorrhaging jobs on a weekly basis. We made a commitment to create 100,000 new jobs by 2016 and now look on course to exceed that target. This latest strategy is a vital stepping stone towards the target of full employment by 2018.