Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 89: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the efforts being made by the job employment creation agencies to bring jobs to Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37855/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that there have been significant job announcements in Donegal recently with more than 210 new jobs announced in September 2005 by Zeus Industrial Products, Letterkenny and PowerBoard, Burnfoot. These projects are being supported by the Industrial Development Agency and Enterprise Ireland, respectively. This was in addition to 423 jobs I announced earlier this year for the north west region.

The State development agencies under my auspices, IDA, EI, FÁS and Donegal County Enterprise Board, are fully committed to supporting and promoting job creation and job retention in Donegal. In addition to recent job announcements, this commitment is also evidenced by ongoing development and support by the agencies for a number of business parks and enterprise centres in Donegal. These include the completion of the IDA Letterkenny Business Park, the provision of a 25,000 sq. ft. advance office building at Windyhall, the completion of site development work at Ballyshannon for a new facility and also a development at Buncrana where IDA is working with a local developer to provide new manufacturing and office buildings. In addition to providing support for nine community enterprise centres in Donegal, Enterprise Ireland has provided substantial support for the expansion of the Letterkenny Institute of Technology Business Development Centre and the development of a Marine Biotechnology Centre.

The development agencies will continue to work together to promote Donegal in order to attract investment and to foster job creation there. However, I also recognise that there have been significant job losses in Donegal in recent years, and I have visited the county twice since becoming Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I have met many groups and companies on these visits to discuss both the county's difficulties and opportunities. My colleagues in Government also recognise the particular difficulties in Donegal and we will work together to assist in improving the overall environment to increase the attractiveness of Donegal as a location for enterprises. In that context, I established an interdepartmental group on Donegal chaired by the Secretary General of my Department. I assure the Deputy that support for job creation in Donegal will continue to remain a priority for the State development agencies under the auspices of my Department.