I thank Deputy Fleming for his very important question on the midlands. Regional development is a key focus of our programme for Government and is central to the work the Department and our enterprise agencies. The region, comprising counties Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath, is home to 51 IDA Ireland companies that employ 7,501 people. Foreign direct investment performance has been consistent over the six years requested by the Deputy, 2020 to 2025, with IDA Ireland-supported jobs increasing by 1,027, or 16%, over this period. Employment in Westmeath, Longford and Offaly increased by 626, 336 and 67 respectively, while employment in Laois decreased by two. In 2020, there were 158 IDA Ireland-supported jobs in Laois. This decreased to 156 in 2025. In Longford, the employment figures went from 1,236 in 2020 to 1,572 in 2025, an increase of 336. In Offaly, the 2020 employment figure was 1,232. This increased by 67 to 1,299 in 2025. In Westmeath, the number of IDA Ireland-supported jobs increased by 626 over the period, going from 3,848 to 4,474. Over the period of its previous strategy, 2021 to 2024, IDA Ireland supported the delivery of 973 investments and the creation of 76,790 jobs. Some 54% of those investments were won in regional locations. In the midlands, 31 investments were won against a target of 25. Under its current strategy, IDA Ireland is targeting 550 of a total 1,000 investments to regional locations, including 40 in the midlands. The first year of this strategy, 2025, saw IDA Ireland achieving the highest ever number of investments, 323, a 38% increase on 2024, which are expected to create over 15,300 jobs in the coming years.

Sentiment score: 0.27

I acknowledge the concern raised by Deputy Fleming in connection with Laois. I was on the ground there with Deputies Fleming and Aird recently and looked at where we have an advanced planning permit in Portlaoise and lands surrounding it, as well as being there on the occasion when Midland Steel announced 70 jobs, which are very important for the area. We have seen 11% growth in Enterprise Ireland from 2020 to 2024, which equals about 260 jobs supported by the agency. We have to do better and I fully acknowledge that. We drive regional growth as best we can and I have asked the IDA to up its targets for regional areas. I will do all I can, working with Deputies Fleming and Aird, to bring additional investment into Laois. Critically, the Leprino Foods site is another high-quality, high-spec building and we really need to find a replacement employer. It is one we are marketing aggressively as part of the IDA portfolio.

Sentiment score: 0.27

I take on board Deputy Fleming's comments. I will work with the IDA on attracting foreign direct investment into the region. We have increased our regional target, which is very important, to get as many jobs as we can. We are working through our capital programme, in which we have about €500 million for regional buildings, to put the infrastructure in place around them and ensure they are in the best position to attract investment. Visitor numbers are up in the midlands but I will add a note of caution. We are operating in an uncertain political environment. We know the pressures on the global stage regarding attracting investment, which will be acute in 2026. Notwithstanding that, with our indigenous agencies, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, we will do our best to reflect the Deputy's concerns and will try to do better in 2026.

Sentiment score: 0.32

I thank Deputy Cahill for his very important question. In line with the programme for Government, I was pleased to launch the Government's new national - I have the wrong one there. My apologies. I think I have the wrong question, if you could just give me a second. I do not see it here. Anyway, I will manage. In relation to our short-term lets, there is obviously a commitment in the programme for Government about managing our short-term lets. We know the sector has grown by about 10% per annum over the last number of years. Critically, my responsibility is through Fáilte Ireland as it will be designated as a competent authority. This will essentially require a process where short-term lets will have to register on a portal and be provided with a unique number to ensure they comply with planning law. That is the critical component for which I am responsible. The second, working with the Minister, Deputy Browne, is to come forward with a planning statement which will essentially designate the criteria for short-term lets. It is based on a population basis. We went forward to the Oireachtas joint committee and we are now awaiting its pre-legislative scrutiny report. That will be key for guiding the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I on the criteria that will be set out. I know the Deputy has raised very significant concerns about Killarney and other towns in relation to short-term lets. We will take on board all of those concerns. My critical concern is that we have to ensure we are bringing housing stock back into the long-term market, particularly in our large cities. As a tourism Minister, I also have to balance not only our indigenous tourism sector, which is very important, but also the societal need for housing. The challenge is getting the correct balance here. I absolutely commit that we will work the Deputy and others to try to get the right policy. We will consider the pre-legislative scrutiny report from the committee, which we are due to have very shortly. I want to see the sectors grow. In areas that do not have very significant hotel accommodation, I acknowledge you need short-term lets. I am absolutely aware of that. In many locations, it is not viable to build hotels at the moment. That is something we will be looking at in our accommodation strategy, which I also hope to bring forward this year.

Sentiment score: 0.09

It is not our intention to put anyone out of existence. I want to be clear that I am very keen on trying to develop our tourism sector. We now have a very robust plan, based on evidence, that will put key KPIs into our State agencies to ensure we are seeing 7% growth per annum in our sector. That will be very important. Obviously, County Kerry will be key in delivering that growth. My primary role is to devise the legislation coming forward to designate Fáilte Ireland as the competent authority. Obviously, the Minister, Deputy Browne, is in a trickier position in terms of deciding what the planning piece will be and what designation should be attached to the numbers of where you will be required to have planning permission and where it will be approved. That will be the key response. Across Government, we are working together to try to achieve a balance on that. I want to reinforce this point that I am very understanding there are areas right across our country where accommodation is under pressure and it is not viable to have hotels. We will be looking at that as well and looking at the product there is in County Kerry, which we want to support and want to continue, which we will under this current tourism policy. Over the past four consecutive months, we have seen very strong growth again and I want that to continue into 2026.

Sentiment score: 0.33

I again thank the Deputy for his comments. I do not want to see any unintended consequences coming from this action. The core point is that when you have a sector that is growing at 10% per annum in terms of numbers, without any Government intervention, we need to ensure there is regulation here in some regard. It is about getting the correct policy to ensure we are getting the data from the people who are staying in these short-term lets as we do not know anything about many of them so we cannot craft tourism policy. That data will be very valuable for our tourism product. You also have to ensure that you have competing interests in an economy. We know we have a very acute housing crisis. Our cities are of particular concern. When you look at some of the Eurostat data about the utilisation of bed nights, some of these short-term lets in our cities are only rented out two or three nights a month. When you look at the Revenue that is coming in from those two or three nights and the property being vacant for the rest of the time, is that acceptable when society is under significant pressure for housing? Those are the types of trade-offs we have to consider in policy. We work closely with the Minister, Deputy Browne, on trying to get the balance right and taking into account what the Oireachtas joint committee did in pre-legislative scrutiny.

Sentiment score: 0.15

I thank Deputy Murphy for his important question. IDA's strategy to drive balanced regional development is a priority, as set out in the programme for Government, and is a key focus of the work of my Department and its agencies. IDA Ireland is continuing its strong commitment to regional development as one of our four key strategic objectives in the 2025-29 strategy, Adapt Intelligently. This ambitious strategy aims to secure 550 foreign direct investment, FDI, projects outside of Dublin, accounting for 55% of the total investment target. There has been consistent FDI performance in the mid-west region, comprising counties Limerick, Clare and Tipperary, with employment in IDA clients increasing by 15% over the past five years. IDA now has 158 client companies in the mid-west region, employing 28,125 people. Within that, there are 16 IDA Ireland client companies in County Tipperary, employing 5,630 people. The mid-west region has a significant ecosystem of well-established companies across technology, life sciences, international financial services, and the engineering and industrial technologies sectors. The availability of suitable property and strategic sites is a critical component of the regional value proposition and can be the key differentiator in investment decisions in the regions from both new and existing clients as well as clients of Enterprise Ireland and our local enterprise offices, LEOs. As part of the property strategy, IDA, in partnership with Tipperary County Council, has secured planning permission for a proposed 10,000 sq. m advance factory solution building on a site of approximately 3.4 ha at Ballingarrane science and technology park in Clonmel, County Tipperary. The advance planning permission allows the maximum flexibility to a potential client whereby it can avail of the permission or amend it to suit its requirements. I was delighted to visit Tipperary with Deputy Murphy in recent weeks and receive a presentation from the local authority and, indeed, IDA Ireland. IDA Ireland continues to market aggressively the site, and the planning permission it has in existence, to new and existing IDA global clients and through its regional offices.

Sentiment score: 0.29

I thank Deputy Murphy again for his proactive approach when we were on site in Clonmel. The ecosystem that exists there will put us in a very strong position together with the partnerships the Deputy has worked with, including Tipperary County Council, to really ensure that we have the development of water and the development of grid capacity on site. Having a utility-rich site like that puts us in a strong position. We will ensure the IDA gives its full attention to try to get a strong client into it. On the Deputy’s trip I was impressed with the Bulmers visitor centre at Dowd’s Lane. It is an exciting project that we can deliver through our capital grants and Fáilte Ireland. I know the Deputy is committed to it. It is one I would like to see developing over the next year. Hopefully, the local authority can be proactive in this regard and we can work with the IDA to try to ensure that, first, we deliver high-quality jobs and, now that we have a new exciting tourism strategy, we breathe life into areas and ensure that the 46,000 SMEs and 228,000 people employed in that sector are getting a strong dividend back into their community.

Sentiment score: 0.61

As the Deputy rightly outlined, the location is hugely attractive, particularly in relation to utilities, which are at a premium. The local authority has been proactive in this regard in looking ahead in developing connectivity, which is critical for the key infrastructural components that deliver high-quality jobs. We will work closely with the Deputy and the IDA to ensure we get a good client in this location and build on the existing clients. It is a very exciting ecosystem, particularly for life sciences. We will hopefully publish a life science strategy by August in time for our Presidency of the EU which will chart more investment in that area. We have approximately 100,000 jobs nationally in that sector and a total of €100 billion investment in exports every year. It is an area in which Tipperary and Clonmel can be an attractive proposition for investment. That is something we are working closely on. I look forward to working with Deputy Murphy to develop more projects in Tipperary, for which he is a huge advocate.

Sentiment score: 0.34