Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions Dail Éireann — 2026-04-29 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central Absolutely. What I would like to see happening with the energy transformation that is occurring is the resetting of the investment profile for the midlands in terms of foreign direct investment coming to the midlands in greater numbers than it has heretofore. There are some significant plants around the midlands but there is potential for more. Given the link between energy, industry and investment, some significant companies are looking at the midlands. That is very positive news all around. There is a lot of untapped potential. Notwithstanding all of the global turbulence and challenges, I am reasonably confident we can continue the momentum. I take the Deputy's point. We want to maintain existing services. By the way, if you look across the board and take out just rates, the Government has been increasing contributions to local authorities on a whole load of fronts in the past number of years. On total funding overall, if you take the €46 million allocated in 2021, the Government is now allocating €64 million to Offaly County Council. That is a big increase. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-29