Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We had a good news story in Limerick city yesterday. Regeneron, a world leader in the manufacture of cutting-edge life saving drugs, announced a further 300 jobs in addition to the 500 which it already has there. It has scaled up over a three-year period to have 800 jobs in place by the end of 2018. It has already invested €650 million and will invest another €100 million in building a new facility of 100,000 sq. ft. alongside the existing facility of 400,000 sq. ft.

To put it in context, some years ago Dell discontinued its manufacturing facility in Limerick. It continued to be a great employer there but many thousands lost their jobs. Regeneron went in there just over three years ago in a 400,000 sq. ft. ghost factory facility and refitted it, spending €650 million. Some 500 people work there today and there are another 290 ancillary and temporary workers, bringing the total to 800. By the end of 2018, there will be over 1,000 working on site. They will have 250 people involved in construction of the 100,000 sq. ft. facility. It is to be commended and I congratulate Regeneron and the workforce.

With everyone's indulgence, on the tracker mortgage issue, everyone has lost sight of the primary reason for the Minister's meeting with the banks. I am also a member of the finance committee. We had four witnesses before us with Mr. Padraic Kissane. They were credible, honest and encapsulated in a short period, what people had been put through by the banks over tracker mortgages. They wanted their money and they are entitled to get it back. The banks are withholding the tracker mortgage victims' money; it is not the banks' money, it is their money. It brings to mind the old saying "resting in the account". The banks had the money resting in their account. For those 13,000 people, their main focus is having their money repaid.