Industrial Development
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Sean Fleming (FF), Laois

I thank the Minister for that information. It has confirmed the issue I raised. I want to highlight the following situation. There are 52 IDA-supported jobs per 1,000 people in Westmeath. The figure in Longford is 35 per 1,000 and in Offaly 16 per 1,000. The figure for County Laois is two per 1,000. The IDA does not exist in Laois; I wonder does Laois exist in the minds of the IDA. It has a big regional office in Westmeath, and more power to it, but because that office is in Westmeath, people who come to the midlands are shown Westmeath first. We might be an extra 40 minutes down the road but it is well worth a visit. There is something strategically wrong with the IDA when it can have only two jobs per 1,000 people. The figure for Enterprise Ireland is not much better; it has about 2,000 jobs in the county, which is the third lowest in the whole country. I am asking for a positive response and for the Minister to ask the IDA to do more for County Laois because it has not done much to date.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13