Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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327. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason no businesses are operating in the IDA business and Technology Park, Fermoy, County Cork in 2024, 22 years after the official opening of the park; the amount that has been spent on the development and maintenance of Fermoy IDA business and technology park since it has been opened; the number of businesses that have applied to operate in the business and technology park since its official opening; the reason for rejecting applications by businesses to locate in the park; if businesses have been refused permission to locate there; the IDAs current plans for the business and technology park; if no businesses are planned to go into park in the near future, if the Government will consider restoring the park back to residential land considering the lack of housing in the Fermoy area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12010/24]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Regional development is at the centre of IDA’s strategy "Driving Recovery & Sustainability 2021-2024". In that regard, the IDA is committed to the pursuit of balanced, compact regional development which can deliver complementary efficiency and equity gains, with the overall impact of helping to advance national development.

IDA’s property investment in the regions is aimed at supporting economic development and job creation across IDA’s, Enterprise Ireland and local LEO’s respective client bases. The availability of quality Business Parks and Strategic Sites is a critical component of the Regional Value Proposition for the winning of investments for the regions. To that end, it is crucial that the South-West region has a competitive, sustainable property offering to enable the attraction and retention of investment and jobs and the IDA’s Regional Property Programme has enabled the winning of capital-intensive projects of significant scale to regional locations including the Southwest.

In relation to the Fermoy Business Park, it is maintained as part of IDA Ireland’s property portfolio and is available to accommodate investment and development by IDA and indigenous industries. The 8-hectare site is part of IDA’s overall strategic land bank portfolio in Cork offering greenfield sites of c. 6Ha to suit both manufacturing and international services clients, in a landscaped and serviced environment and is available to support IDA and Enterprise Ireland clients with appropriate services in place to accommodate such companies. In that regard, IDA continues to proactively market the site to suitable qualifying client companies.

The site is subject to the standard IDA 999-year leasehold user covenant i.e., for manufacturing and internationally traded services. Pursuant to the Industrial Development Acts, the IDA is permitted to sell lands within its ownership for the purpose of manufacturing and/or for the purpose of one or more of the services listed in SI 81/2010 where that service is being carried out by an industrial undertaking.

Over the past several years IDA has received a number of enquiries from interested parties about the park, however, none of these enquiries led to formal applications to operate a qualifying activity on the park. IDA Ireland assure me that they are committed to the continued promotion of the lands at Fermoy for development for employment generating uses consistent with its development brief. Moreover, IDA Ireland continues to work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that a supportive ecosystem is in place to assist IDA in winning investments into the Cork region.

Since 2009, the IDA has spent €24,765.65 on maintenance, upkeep and security on the park.

Finally, IDA Ireland is engaged with the Land Development Agency on the potential suitability of IDA lands for housing.