Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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82. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding the provision of an advance facility at Kerry Technology Park, County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19034/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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At the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs in February this year, the Government announced that an additional €150m over 5 years would be made available to IDA Ireland for a capital investment programme to help attract more multinational investment and jobs into each region.

The programme will build on the recent investment by IDA Ireland in facilities in Athlone and Waterford and will include investments over the coming years in construction of advance manufacturing and office facilities in Sligo, Tralee, Castlebar, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford. Tralee is one of the locations chosen for the 2015 investment programme with others scheduled to follow in subsequent years.

In relation to the facility to be constructed in Tralee, I am informed by IDA Ireland that the Agency is currently in the process of appointing a design team for the facility and is finalising the specific site location for the new building development.

This is a positive development for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into regional locations in particular, allowing these locations to compete more aggressively with competitor locations internationally. It will also give regional locations access to modern, turnkey property solutions, which when combined with a strong local talent pool and existing FDI cluster, will give these locations an enhanced proposition to offer international investors.