Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss this with IDA Ireland but I have asked my officials to follow it up and will revert to the Deputy as soon as possible.

As the Deputy is aware, there are 120 IDA supported companies in the West Region, employing 29,419 people in total. There are 94 IDA supported companies in Galway City and County, employing 22,801 in total. Ballinasloe is marketed as part of the West Region. This provides scale and scope, which gives confidence to the investor that they will be able to establish themselves outside of a main city area and manage to secure talent and services to make their business work. IDA markets the West Region to the Life Sciences, Technology and Global Business Services sectors.

The timely provision of appropriate and cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions to meet the needs of multinational companies remains essential to winning Foreign Direct Investment. Over the last 5 years, IDA’s Regional Property Programme enabled the winning of capital-intensive projects of significant scale to regional locations.

IDA actively promotes available buildings and land in IDA Business Parks and high-quality buildings in private ownership through its network of overseas offices. In Galway IDA has invested significantly in the provision of world-class property solutions.

Following the decision by Aptar to cease manufacturing operations in Ballinasloe in 2020, IDA Ireland worked to market the vacated facility to potential client companies of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. In May 2021, Enterprise Ireland client company Chanelle Pharma leased the building and announced plans for 60 jobs in Ballinasloe and a €5m investment.

IDA continues to market the available lands (c.21.94 acres) on the IDA business and technology park in Ballinasloe to potential investors, including the advanced planning permission for an Advanced Technology Unit on these lands. IDA and Ballinasloe Area Community Development (BACD) completed a joint venture to secure planning for an Advance Technology Unit (ATU). The availability of the ATU planning permission is being marketed by IDA as a planning de-risked and flexible potential property solution. IDA currently has no plans to purchase additional lands as the Agency is marketing the available lands to potential investors.