Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In recent years, I have had submitted to the Minister and her predecessor a number of parliamentary questions to try to understand foreign direct investment, FDI, and IDA-supported jobs in Donegal. In July 1999, County Donegal had lost more than 1,000 jobs in the textile industry. Companies such as Fruit of the Loom, which was a significant employer, was on the verge of leaving the county and it eventually left. Magee was a textile manufacturer in south Donegal and Unifi was based in Letterkenny. They all left in subsequent years but already in July 1999 we had lost 1,000 jobs. The Government of the day set up a Donegal employment initiative task force and it presented its recommendations in July 1999. It said that Donegal was way behind the rest of the State in job creation, especially foreign direct investment, and it targeted almost 5,000 additional jobs in foreign direct investment for the next seven years.

I decided to track how we progressed in the past 17 years. What I have discovered from the responses of the Minister and her officials is that today in Donegal the IDA supports fewer companies that it did in the year 2000. It supported 14 companies then and it is 12 today. When one looks at the growth in jobs in IDA-supported companies across the State, it was 140,000 in 2000 and today it is more than 210,000, which is 50% growth. I commend the IDA on the excellent job it has done in bringing companies from around the world to the State. I say good luck to all the locations that got such companies. In County Donegal, even though we set a target of 5,000 additional jobs in the following seven years, the growth has been less than half of the State-wide level of 50% at 24% growth. We would be in serious trouble were it not for companies such as Pramerica and Optum, which employ more than two thirds of all the IDA-supported jobs in Donegal. It is a fantastic story of Donegal leadership. There has been a failure to deliver foreign direct investment to Donegal but there is good news in that we have Pramerica and Optum, as well as other companies. In particular, I refer to Pramerica, which employs more than 1,500 companies and which demonstrates we can get jobs in Donegal, keep them there and grow them.

The Letterkenny Institute of Technology provides fantastic leadership. The adjoining CoLab develops and incubates small businesses. There is also a science and technology park. In addition, there is the leadership of Donegal County Council, as well as Derry City and Strabane District Council. They are breaking down the Border and talking about the north-west city region. While I need to focus today on the historic failure and the negatives, I want to bring to the Minister's attention the significant positives. The Minister must work with her Government colleagues to fast-track the commitments in Project 2040 in terms of roads investment, broadband, airports, bridges and harbours. I ask that the Minister would work with her Government colleagues to fast-track the commitments made concerning Donegal. Donegal was playing catch-up in 1999. We put in place recommendations but fell further behind. I urge the Minister to work with me and other public representatives in Donegal to bring more foreign direct investment to the county and to make sure that the commitments in Project 2040 are delivered.

As a Minister from a Border county, Deputy Humphreys knows how hard it has been. She knows the struggle that we have had and the threat of Brexit. We need a strong statement from the Minister today about how we are going to bring new businesses to the area. I ask her not to quote the jobs growth in Pramerica. We know all about that. She should please tell me about her plan to bring new companies to Donegal, on the back of Pramerica and Optum, to turn around the historic failure we have seen.