Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress to date in advancing a project (details supplied); if she will ensure that the IDA gives a particular focus to the border region in trying to attract this investment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14443/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I understand that Cavan will be included in a study, currently being commissioned by IDA Ireland, to identify potential strategic land banks for the sustainable development of large-scale data centre projects.  This will evaluate all viable land options nationally and will be conducted over a number of stages. For a site to be considered suitable, I understand that it must be both supported by the necessary infrastructure and compatible with the evolving needs of data centre investments.

This study is part of IDA Ireland's wider strategy to ensure that Ireland and its regions are best able to win and sustain mobile data centre investments of scale. In recent times companies including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google have announced significant data centre investments for Ireland and the goal is to ensure that this trend continues. 

More broadly, I regularly engage with stakeholders from the area and, on 19 January, I hosted a large delegation of elected representatives from Cavan and Monaghan to discuss issues around investment and job creation in the region.