Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the actions being taken by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to promote County Offaly as a location for investment; if consideration will be given to strengthening infrastructure and supporting skills development to make the county more attractive to employers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50723/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Regional development is a key element of our national enterprise policy, as set out in the Programme for Government and the White Paper on Enterprise, and is a key focus of the work of my Department and its agencies. In this regard, IDA Ireland has reaffirmed its strong commitment to regional development as a core pillar of its 2025-2029 strategy, 'Adapt Intelligently: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Innovation'. This ambitious strategy aims to secure 550 investments outside Dublin, accounting for 55% of all planned investments to 2029. Likewise, Enterprise Ireland remains firmly committed to driving balanced regional development as a cornerstone of its 2025–2029 strategy 'Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally'. Enterprise Ireland aims to grow employment in client companies to 275,000, with a strong emphasis on regional job creation and scaling indigenous businesses across all counties.

IDA’s strategy focuses on partnering with the existing FDI base to retain and renew their Irish operations alongside an ongoing focus on identifying new opportunities associated with FDI growth drivers including AI & digital, semiconductors, sustainability and health. In practical terms this means supporting clients to increase the competitiveness of their Irish operations through investment in RD&I, digitalisation, talent development and sustainability. Grant support totalling €475,366 was provided to IDA clients between 2023 and 2024, and Enterprise Ireland provided €3.7 million in direct financial assistance to Offaly-based companies, helping to sustain and grow employment across a range of sectors.

The Midlands Region comprises of counties Westmeath, Offaly, Laois and Longford. There are 52 IDA client companies in the Midlands Region, employing 8,045 people, with 1,420 people employed in Offaly across 11 IDA-supported companies. As of 2024, there were 4,147 people employed in Enterprise Ireland client companies in the county, a 1.2% increase on the previous year.

The region has a significant ecosystem of well-established companies across Life Sciences, Technology, Global Business & Financial Services and Engineering & Industrial Technologies. IDA Ireland continues to deliver a competitive property offering to attract FDI and support the growth and expansion of domestic clients within the Enterprise Ireland portfolio and Local Enterprise Office clients. In that regard, I am advised that there is currently 0.64 hectares available for promotion in the IDA Business & Technology Park, Tullamore and 0.232 hectares in Tullamore Industrial Estate and 0.4872 hectares available for promotion in Clara Industrial Estate. To the end of Q2 2025 there were 2 visits to County Offaly, 5 in 2024 and 3 in 2023.

Both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland enjoy close working relationships with all key stakeholders across the four counties of Offaly, Laois, Westmeath and Longford and are involved in a significant number of initiatives across the region aimed at enhancing the enterprise ecosystem including Just Transition, Midlands Regional Enterprise Plan Steering Committee, ICT Network and ATIM Cluster Steering Committee, Skills Forum, etc.

The Midlands REP focuses on three strategic objectives covering climate action, placemaking and building on the region’s sectoral strengths. Some of projects supported through the REP include establishing the Midlands ICT Cluster and designation of Mount Lucas as the National Construction Training Campus.

The nine Regional Skills fora foster engagement and collaboration by providing an opportunity for employers and the education and training system to work together to meet the emerging skills needs of their regions. The work of the Midlands Regional Skills Forum is supported by key industry, economic and education partners from across the region, who work together to address current and future skills needs.

According to the CSO’s Labour Force Survey, published on 21st August 2025, employment increased in the year to Q2 2025, with 65,700 jobs gained. More people are now employed in Ireland than ever before, with total employment standing at 2.81 million in Q2 2025. Employment increased in six out of the eight regions in the year to Q2 2025, however employment in the midland region, declined slightly by 1,700 to reach 158,300.

My Department works closely with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and its agencies to ensure education and training provision are fully aligned with the needs of enterprise. Ireland’s skills development policy is supported by a responsive National Skills Architecture, which aims to ensure that education and training provision is optimally aligned with identified skills needs within the enterprise base.

This architecture is overseen by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which provides the Secretariat for the National Skills Council, whose role is to prioritise identified skills needs and advise on the allocation of resources to meet them. The Council draws on the labour market intelligence of the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit of SOLAS, the Regional Skills Fora, and the enterprise skills demand forecast studies of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, the Secretariat for which is based in my Department.