Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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239. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of visits arranged by job creation agencies, the IDA, and Enterprise Ireland to counties Louth, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Kildare and Wicklow by location of town, for example, Drogheda and Dundalk and so on in each of the past three years; the outcome of such visits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53862/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Regional development remains a key priority for myself and my Department. We understand the importance of achieving the best possible spread of employment and investment across the country and my Department and its Agencies have been working hard towards that goal. That will remain the case in 2020 and beyond.

It is therefore very positive that significant progress has already been made towards that objective. For example, 58% of all IDA client-supported employment is now situated outside Dublin. This figure represents the highest level of regional employment in the history of the Agency and reflects the significant energy and resources invested into supporting regional development. We will be seeking to increase that number again in 2020.

Data on IDA Ireland site visits is collated on a county by county basis. Information on site visits to specific locations - including individual towns - is therefore unavailable. For commercial sensitivity reasons, the IDA does not provide information on the outcome of individual site visits. Enterprise Ireland does conduct host site visits.

The following table outlines the number of IDA site visits to Counties Louth, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Kildare and Wicklow from 2016 until Q3 2019.