Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 255: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of site visits by any of the agencies to a factory (details supplied) in County Wexford since the Department was made aware of the factory; the date each visit occurred; the outcome of each visit; if his attention has been drawn to the unemployment crisis in Enniscorthy town and area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23142/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There have been two IDA Ireland site visits to the advance technology building in Enniscorthy, in February and May 2003. Unfortunately, neither of these site visits resulted in a tenant being found for the building.

IDA Ireland's strategy for County Wexford, for the medium to long term, is to concentrate resources on the NSS hub and county town of Wexford as the location with the greatest potential to develop as a first class location for inward investment from overseas. Other towns in the county, including Enniscorthy, are expected to benefit from the greater dynamism that the NSS gateway and hub locations of Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny can bring to the wider south-east region. In the short term, however, IDA Ireland will concentrate its efforts on other towns, including Enniscorthy, where there are available advance technology buildings to market to overseas clients.

In recent years, IDA Ireland has been seeking to attract overseas companies in newer sectors to Wexford and the profile of clients has been changing, with Lake Region and Waters Corporation — medical technologies — as well as PFPC and Equifax — international services — now firmly established in the county. IDA Ireland is committed to continue marketing Wexford as a location for knowledge-intensive industries. Major recent job announcements for County Wexford were made in May 2005 including a 200 job expansion project for PFPC and a 130 job expansion project for Waters Corporation.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 256: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will specifically target Kilrush and west Clare as an area of job creation in view of the recent job losses in the region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23262/05]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans he has to attract industrial development to County Clare in view of the number of factories and industrial units available for rental; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23436/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 256 and 261 together.

IDA Ireland is the national agency with statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment, FDI, to Ireland and its regions, while Shannon Development has responsibility for Irish industry in the Shannon region and the promotion of the Shannon free zone.

IDA Ireland and Shannon Development are both committed to the achievement of balanced regional development. Both organisations recognise the need to provide high value employment opportunities in Clare that provide sustainable long-term jobs. The attractiveness of Clare for inward investment has to be considered in a regional context, and particularly by reference to its location on the Limerick-Shannon-Galway corridor. The national spatial strategy provides a framework for the achievement of this goal through the prioritisation of development and investment in the linked gateway of Limerick-Shannon and hub locations of Ennis and Tralee-Killarney. The primary needs for new investment projects can be summarised as follows: a high quality urban environment with a critical mass in population; world class access infrastructure, for example, road access to key cities and ports and international airports; telecommunications infrastructure with multiple carriers and competitive pricing with business support services; third level educational infrastructure including universities and technical institutes that are located on or close to high quality business and technology parks; and a range of affordable state of the art property solutions.

Responsibility for the provision of industrial property solutions within the mid-west region, including County Clare, lies with Shannon Development, and IDA Ireland works closely with it in the promotion and marketing of these tailored property solutions. Shannon Development has also appointed a full-time marketing and promotion executive to promote the availability of vacant premises. Vacant space and sites are advertised locally and in appropriate periodicals.

The Industry Ennis group, which includes Shannon Development, IDA Ireland, Ennis Town Council, FÁS, the Clare County Enterprise Board, Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Clare Chamber of Industries, has been working to attract new industry projects to the area. As part of a planned programme, the group has established the Clare consul programme to promote the county as a location for industry, services and tourism.

Miltown Malbay has also been selected as a pilot location for the e-towns programme, launched by Shannon Development in 2004. The aim of this initiative is to help disperse economic activity and job creation to smaller population centres.

Shannon Development is also working with the west Clare industry and employment working group, which includes Kilrush Town Council, ESB Moneypoint, FÁS, Kilrush Chamber of Commerce and Clare County Enterprise Board, to promote west Clare as a location for industry and tourism.