How many jobs in each county in the mid-east region did the IDA support in 2025? How did this compare with each county in that region in 2020? Will the Minister of State make a statement on the matter?

Sentiment score: 0.14

I thank the Minister of State for that overview. As he knows, jobs matter. Our previous speaker, Deputy Fleming, spoke about jobs in Laois. Jobs matter to families, communities and to the long-term viability of each region. I am particularly talking about Louth. Distribution of IDA-supported employment across Louth, Meath, etc., is not just a statistical exercise; it is a test of whether regional development policy is working. It was mentioned previously that IDA companies employed over 4,000 people in Louth. That is a lot of people. It would be great to get an update on the plans the IDA have in Drogheda, County Louth. It has been granted planning permission for construction of offices and industrial spaces. This will be of huge significance to the area and county. Louth sits at the heart of the Belfast-Dublin economic corridor.

Sentiment score: 0.15

I ask if a new north-east regional enterprise plan is forthcoming and if the Minister will make a statement on the matter.

Sentiment score: 0.03

I thank the Minister of State. It is very encouraging to hear all the work that is going into the new plan. The previous plan for County Louth and the rest of the region demonstrated a real commitment to multi-agency co-operation between Government enterprise agencies, local authorities, higher education institutions and the private sector. We see that when they work collaboratively, we get results. I will repeat that Louth, in particular, has unique strategic opportunities that need to be reflected in the new plan. As I said previously, the newest university in the country - an all-Ireland university - will be situated in Dundalk. It is central to the Belfast-Dublin economic corridor. Louth is a most important county. It is in the mid-east and north-east plans, which shows us how integral Louth is. It has strong transport connectivity, a deep manufacturing and agrifood base and a growing innovation ecosystem anchored in Dundalk. Its higher education and research capacity, the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence in Dundalk and the connected health and well-being centre in Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, have positioned Louth as a leader in digitalisation, advanced manufacturing and health innovation.

Sentiment score: 0.33

I absolutely agree with the Minister of State. It is really important that we look at that inter-county connectivity between the counties in each region but also at how, in this new plan, we can utilise what we have in each area. I refer to our higher and further education institutions and investment in driving innovation and research, not only in the bigger companies and IDA companies but also in our small SMEs to see how we can make them more efficient and support them to scale up. If we are talking about a regional plan, particularly in the Border region that has been economically disadvantaged over the last century, we need to be a little bit more innovative, potentially with a cross-Border focus to see how we can co-operate cross-Border in relation to those 11 counties across the Border region to make sure we are really benefiting from the capacity and what we have on the Border region, particularly in counties Louth, Cavan and Monaghan.

Sentiment score: 0.45