Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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129. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the IDA advanced factory in Carlow; the action being taken to attract businesses to the factory; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8911/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Regional development remains a top priority for my Department and IDA Ireland. Of the 242 investments won in 2022, more than half went to regional locations, and for 2021, of the 249 investments secured by the IDA, 133 - again more than 50% - went to locations outside Dublin.

The IDA’s Regional Property Programme, supported by my Department, provides property and strategic site solutions to address market failures in regional locations. This encourages and facilitates regional investment by ensuring there are suitable properties in place to meet the needs of multinational companies. We recognise that the timely provision of appropriate and cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions remains essential to winning Foreign Direct Investment. In that regard, over the past 5 years, the IDA’s Regional Property Programme has enabled the winning of capital-intensive projects of significant scale to regional locations.

IDA Ireland will deliver 19 Advanced Building Solutions in 15 regional locations throughout Ireland over the lifetime of their current strategy "Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024".

In relation to Carlow, the 'Advanced Building Solution' commenced construction on-site in Quarter 2 2021 and is currently forecast for completion in Q1 this year. The property is currently included as part of IDA marketing material for Foreign Direct Investment and Enterprise Ireland clients.