Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I anticipated, we now need to get to the core of the issue. That is the reason I had those questions tabled and why I am probing the issue. Pramerica is a fantastic story in Donegal. It employs more than 1,500 jobs and has local Donegal leadership. I was at the launch of the fantastic new building, known as the Rock. It is a great story but it is not enough. Why are we not building on the story of Pramerica? The Minister talked about a 52% increase over a number of years but it was from a low base. The unemployment levels in Donegal in the 2016 census and historically have been around twice the national average. A significant factor in the reduction in unemployment levels between 2011 and 2016 is emigration. People in Donegal know that. We have lost young people to the United States, Australia and Canada and many of them are not coming home.

I want to hold up the positive examples of Pramerica, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Donegal County Council, Derry and Strabane council, and their visionary leadership, but the Government is not meeting them half way. It is not bringing new jobs. The low number of IDA site visits in the past ten to 15 years is despicable. The Government is basically riding on the back of Pramerica's success and it is not delivering new investment to the county.The Government is not acknowledging the scale of the disadvantages we have faced historically and is not delivering the new investment and jobs that are required. It is clearly not telling the story of Donegal or of Letterkenny Institute of Technology, LYIT, and the visionary leadership in the region. If Pramerica Systems Ireland Limited and Optum were taken from the figures for new and additional jobs, Donegal would be a disaster zone. The Minister cannot continue to point to Pramerica to make the Government look good. She must start to build on Pramerica's delivery. Local Donegal leadership and good friends in America delivered in Pramerica. What the IDA must do now is bring in new companies and new investment and accept that, historically, there has been huge Government failure.

The Minister started by talking about the Donegal employment initiative task force back in 1999. She must accept there has been utter failure in achieving those targets. The target was almost 5,000 for the next seven years for Donegal, but it has had less than half the growth of the rest of the State. Not only did it not catch up, it fell further behind. That is an indisputable fact. I ask the Minister to accept that and to promise to stop quoting Pramerica to the people in Donegal. We know about that. She should tell us when she will bring new jobs and new investment on foot of the brilliant leadership in Pramerica, LYIT and Donegal County Council.