Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues in welcoming the decision by Apple to locate a major plant in Athenry. I commend Senator Michael Mullins and all the denizens of that area for this announcement, which will lead to the provision of badly needed employment. Deputy Dara Calleary, a member of my party's Front Bench, produced a paper recently showing the activities of IDA Ireland and the distribution of employment generated by it around the country. It makes for disturbing reading, particularly for those of us in the south west. Without meaning to begrudge the people of the west who badly need these jobs, I hope we will now begin to see a regionalised approach to the location of important industry. Despite the presence of a Minister from my county at the Cabinet table for the past three years, IDA Ireland has not even arranged any site visit to most of County Kerry, north Cork, west Limerick and so on.

It is too soon to comment on the Government's announcement on Aer Lingus. We have not had a chance to study the proposal, but it does seem to have put a temporary halt to the steamroller that was working overtime at the weekend. I hope wiser counsel will prevail and that the issue will not turn into a political football, with one half of the Labour Party in favour of it and the other half, led by Deputy Pat Rabbitte, against. Do we know where the trade unions, small business representatives and IBEC stand on the proposal? We must allow time for cooler heads to prevail. In the meantime, I give a guarded welcome to the holding statement made by the Minister today.