Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this Commencement matter. The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Heather Humphreys, and Senator James Reilly have also raised the issue with me.

I was very disappointed when Bose made the decision to leave Carrickmacross after spending over 37 years in County Monaghan. The impact of this closure was very difficult not only for the 140 full-time employees and their families but also for those who work seasonally at the plant and for the wider community.Following the announcement of this closure, an inter-agency co-ordination group chaired by Enterprise Ireland was established to address the needs of the affected staff. IDA Ireland was a member of this group along with Monaghan County Council, the local enterprise office, the Department of Social Protection and the education and training boards of Cavan-Monaghan and Louth-Meath. The group helped to develop a demographic and skills profile of former staff at the BOSE facility. This was completed by IDA Ireland in partnership with BOSE human resources, HR, locally. This profile is central to IDA Ireland's marketing of the location to clients whose requirements it may match. Enterprise Ireland also actively markets the facility to its client base.

As Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, I am committed to finding a new investor for the site and to bringing new employment opportunities to Carrickmacross. IDA Ireland obviously has an important role to play and I know the agency is committed to attracting new investment to the north-east region. I am in regular contact with the agency and I have directed it to ensure that every effort is made to market the facility and the town to potential investors.

It remains the case, however, that the ultimate decision by companies as to where to locate in Ireland is always taken by their management. I emphasise that supporting regional job creation has been a priority of mine since my first day in office. I want to ensure that regional Ireland benefits from our hard-won economic growth and that the jobs recovery is felt in every single county. As announced yesterday as part of the budget, my Department has secured funding for a number of measures that will improve regional competitiveness and help Border counties in particular to cope with the impact of Brexit.

There are other policy tools at our disposal to help regional development. For example, the north east-north west action plan for jobs launched in November last year aims to deliver 28,000 extra jobs in the north east. I have met this group. All regional action plans will also be supported by investment of up to €250 million over the next five years, including €150 million for IDA Ireland's regional property programme. In addition, IDA Ireland has committed to increasing investment by 30% to 40% in each region by 2019 as part of its strategy Winning: Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019. The north east has many strengths, including a talented work force, its existing cluster of companies in international business services and engineering and its proximity to Dublin Airport. I am confident, therefore, that Carrickmacross, together with the wider region, will experience increased employment and investment in the time ahead. I would be very glad to meet with the Monaghan group that Senator Gallagher would like me to meet.