Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The only silver lining surrounding the dark cloud that is Brexit is the prospect that we might attract additional inward international investment into this country. IDA Ireland acted very swiftly in sending out 1,400 invitations to companies internationally asking them to consider Ireland as a location in the context of the UK's departure from the European Union. That was a welcome initiative. I was pleased, too, to read in the newspapers at the weekend that the Taoiseach is apparently engaged in negotiations with several banks in Britain on their possible relocation here. All of that is encouraging. Will the Leader arrange a debate with the relevant Minister or Ministers to discuss how far the IDA Ireland initiative is going, the reaction it is getting, how likely we are to attract new banking and financial services operations here and, critically, whether we will be able to attract new inward investment to the Border region, which is the area most affected by Brexit? I would like to see counties like Cavan and Monaghan, which already are disadvantaged by virtue of their location on the Border, receiving preferential treatment and the support systems necessary to attract industry. I seek a debate on how we can go about grasping the only straw of hope in the Brexit scenario. We need to know what is being done to attract industry, what the response has been to efforts in that regard, how optimistic are the relevant agencies, what we can do to assist and what is the position in regard to financial services and banking. There is no more relevant or urgent debate we could have and I hope the Leader will arrange it as soon as possible.