Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 323: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans for business and industry to locate at the business park at Askeaton, County Limerick in view of the fact that the park has been available for a considerable number of years. [4139/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Responsibility for development of property solutions for enterprise promotion in the mid west lies with Shannon Development. Responsibility for grant assistance to companies locating in the region is an operational matter for the relevant development agencies. 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 is responsible for indigenous industry in the mid-west region. The IDA works closely with Shannon Development in the promotion and marketing of those tailored property solutions throughout the mid west, including the Askeaton business park.

The business park is a Shannon Development-owned land bank, comprising circa 227 acres. The site has been identified as an important site from a business and employment perspective for both the county and region in the planning and land use transportation study, the mid-west regional planning guidelines and the county development plan. The investment projects which IDA Ireland seeks to win will be in more advanced higher-value, sophisticated activities, both manufacturing and services, often related to research activities, requiring high-level skills, infrastructure and business services generating more high-value products, services and jobs. That reflects the changing nature of FDI, whose primary needs 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 colleges that are located on or close to business and technology parks; a range of affordable, state-of-the-art property solutions with the necessary infrastructure to support their activities.

The Askeaton site is been actively marketed through IDA's network of overseas offices as a solution for utility-intensive projects. The development and servicing of the business park as a solution for such large-scale infrastructure-intensive projects is an ongoing project for Shannon Development, drawing on the experience of IDA in the development of similar sites in other locations, for example Oranmore, County Galway and Grangecastle, County Dublin. Ultimately, however, decisions regarding where to locate a project are taken by investors, based on the ability of the locations to support their business needs.

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 324: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason the IDA has not secured an industrialist for the new IDA industrial park, Tuam, County Galway; the number of potential clients that the IDA has brought to the site to date in 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4259/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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IDA Ireland is the agency with statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment to Ireland and its regions. The marketing of individual areas, including available property solutions, for new or expanded FDI investments and jobs is a day-to-day operational matter for the agency.

IDA Ireland is actively marketing the new industrial park in Tuam to potential investors on an ongoing basis. While IDA Ireland has succeeded in attracting five site visits to the town since January 2003, there have been no site visits as yet in 2006. Ultimately, decisions regarding where to locate a project, including what locations to visit, are taken by the investors.

Prospective investors looking at Ireland are often willing to consider only larger centres that have the scale, infrastructure and services capable of sustaining their investment. In an effort to enhance the attractiveness of the town of Tuam for additional investment and jobs, IDA Ireland informs me that: a total of €3.5 million has been invested in the industrial park to date; planning permission has been obtained for the construction of a 20,000 sq. ft. advanced technology building, two 7,500 sq. ft. and two 5,000 sq. ft. advance technology units on the park; the agency is actively working with its existing base of overseas companies in the county and the Tuam area to encourage them to grow and expand; the agency is also working with local groups, utility-providers and other agencies to ensure that the county secures the appropriate infrastructure that will support existing companies to grow and develop and generally to enhance the attractiveness of the area for new projects.

I am confident that the strategies and policies being pursued by IDA Ireland will in time bear fruit in additional sustainable investment and jobs for the people of Tuam.