Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action he is taking to overcome the loss of employment in Athy, County Kildare due to the closure of a company (details supplied); the reason the Industrial Development Authority has only created three visiting itineraries to the area in relation to employment creation in the past five years; the reason he has not invited any of the development officers or council officials of the local authority of the area to accompany him on all of the trade missions that he has undertaken under his brief since he became Minister, to permit such officials the opportunity to seek employment opportunities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5879/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The National Training and Employment Authority, FÁS, will be giving immediate attention to the workers at the company in Athy who are losing their jobs and will be making contact with the company to offer its full range of services to all staff who wish to avail of its assistance. It is a matter for companies themselves to decide which sites they wish to visit and where they wish to locate their business. Large multinational Companies attracted to Ireland tend to be concentrated in the Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and Internationally Traded Services sectors and prefer to locate in high population centres which have full educational and infrastructural requirements.

The National Spatial Strategy aims to achieve a better balance of social, economic and physical development across the country. The Strategy proposes that areas of sufficient scale and critical mass will be created through a network of gateways and hubs. If Ireland is to continue to be successful in bringing about a large proportion of investments outside of the larger cities and towns, the focus will need to have a regional rather than a local bias. The Industrial Development agencies have been very successful in the past in attracting industry and employment opportunities to Co. Kildare as a whole. I am confident that they will continue to do so in the future and that this approach will benefit the town of Athy.

The Trade Missions that I have led since becoming Minister are undertaken with the assistance of Enterprise Ireland, who invite relevant company clients to participate. The purpose of such missions is to facilitate these companies to develop their exporting potential and to enable them to meet partners and business contacts. There is not, therefore, any scope for the participation of Development Officers or other County Council officials on such missions, as the development of exports is undertaken by reference to individual exporting companies, not geographic areas. Likewise, such missions would not be an appropriate mechanism to seek employment opportunities for specific regional areas.