Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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163. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of site visits the IDA has made to counties Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Carlow in 2017, in view of the fact that the unemployment figures in the south east are still 2.5% above the national average; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46528/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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This Government is strongly committed to regional development and my Department and its agencies are working towards ambitious targets to ensure that employment and investment is evenly distributed across the country. IDA Ireland's strategy for 2015-2019, for example, includes a commitment to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in every region outside Dublin by 30% to 40% by 2019. The Agency’s results from last year - with 52% of all new jobs created by its clients being located outside Dublin - indicate that progress continues to be made in improving the regional spread of FDI.

IDA Ireland  markets Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary South, Waterford and Wexford as part of the South East region. The Agency markets Tipperary North, Clare and Limerick as part of the Mid West region.

Both these regions have performed strongly in recent years in terms of employment growth. In the South East, an additional 33,600 people were in employment by the end of quarter 2 of this year compared to the end of quarter 1 in 2012. The Mid West, meanwhile, was the third fastest growing region in the country in job creation terms from quarter 2 of 2016 to quarter 2 of this year.

While significant progress has been made in reducing unemployment in both regions, more work remains to be done. That is why IDA Ireland continues, on a daily basis, to highlight the benefits of expanding or locating in these regions to its client base in order to boost job creation further.

The following table outlines the number of IDA Ireland sponsored site visits to the aforementioned counties in the first nine months of 2017: