Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of visits that have been made to County Waterford for the first ten months of this year, to the end of October, by potential Industrial Development Agency backed investors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50555/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by IDA Ireland that, since the beginning of 2012 to date, there have been 12 IDA sponsored site visits by potential investors to Waterford.

In order to achieve balanced regional development IDA Ireland focuses on marketing Gateway locations within each Region as the areas of critical mass and highlights the opportunities provided by Hub locations which are within commuting distances of these Gateways.

County Waterford forms part of IDA Ireland’s South Economic Region along with the counties of Cork, South Tipperary, Kerry, Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny. The locations of emphasis for IDA in this Region are the Gateways of Cork and Waterford and these are actively promoted to potential investors through IDA’s network of overseas offices.

The investment projects that IDA is seeking to attract to Waterford rely principally on the skill sets of its people and on strong business and educational infrastructure in the Gateway.

I am also pleased to report that solid progress is being made on pursuing the objectives of the South East Employment Action Plan, which I initiated following the closure of the Talk Talk Call Centre. All the key State players are actively pursuing initiatives to facilitate development and job creation in the region.

The first phase of the €23 million Belview Strategic Water Supply Scheme was officially opened earlier this year. This will facilitate industrial development and job creation in Kilkenny and the South East. The total investment for this phase of the scheme is €13m.