Will the Minister to address the lack of IDA-supported jobs in County Laois? There are a lot of jobs in the midlands and over 300,000 IDA-supported jobs throughout Ireland, but only about 150 of those are based in the county. Given the size of the county and its central location, this is totally unsatisfactory and I need the IDA to step up to the plate on this matter.

I thank the Minister for that. He actually proved the case I had to make when he pointed out that one county in the midlands has almost 4,500 IDA-supported jobs, while a county of a similar or larger size has 150. It is by far the lowest figure for any county. This is IDA policy, and if it is not policy, there is somebody not doing their job. It has decided Laois is okay for some reason. It probably even thinks, "Sure, Portlaoise is only an hour from Dublin. Let them commute every day to work in Dublin." That is no…

I acknowledge the work of Enterprise Ireland and the local employment office in bringing and supporting jobs in native Irish companies but that is happening in every county. I am specifically here to deal with the IDA. I will ask the Minister to ensure that he contacts the chief executive of the IDA about this, to make sure that he is aware of this conversation. State agencies might not be following what is happening in the Dáil this evening. I do not think there is any other solution but him coming to meet us dire…

I want to raise an issue with the Taoiseach today regarding the lack of Industrial Development Authority, IDA, supported jobs in County Laois. I think the Taoiseach will be shocked by what I have to say. The IDA has ignored Laois for many years. There are 145 IDA-supported jobs in County Laois. That is by far the bottom of its list by a long shot. If the Laois figures were replicated nationally, those figures would amount to 8,000 IDA-supported jobs across the country. If that was the case, the Government would hav…

What the Taoiseach said is interesting. Based on what he said, I can confirm the unusual situation that there are more people who leave County Laois every day to go to work outside the county than there are people with jobs in the county. More Laois people have to commute to work, maybe using the motorway. However, there is also good news. The IDA bought a 45 acre site a few years ago adjacent to a site it already had and it has planning permission to develop it. Let us hope that will bring jobs. The first critical…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. As Chairman of the Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery, I welcome this particular discussion and look forward to this legislation going to the committee. As Chairman, I will ensure we have a thorough, effective and detailed discussion on Committee Stage. We will have ample time for any issues that need to be raised, discussed or teased out at the committee where we can get into the specifics of the legislation. I welcome and suppor…

Will the Minister comment on the number of IDA Ireland jobs in County Laois? The most recent figures I received show 145 IDA Ireland-supported jobs in County Laois. In the midland region, which includes four counties, there are over 8,000. Laois has 30% of the population of the midlands region and less than 2% of IDA Ireland jobs.

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 midlan…

I appreciate the comment on Leprino, which closed in Portlaoise and was originally Glanbia, an Enterprise Ireland project. Because it was sold to an American company, it now comes under the remit of the IDA. That it just a book transfer but we need to get a facility reopened in that location as quickly as possible. I ask that when the Minister is arranging the visits for Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, Laois be put high on the list. IDA has a 45-acre facility in Portlaoise and planning permission was granted on tha…

I want to raise the issue of Erkina House, Rathdowney, which is a long established and excellent HSE facility that comes under the mental health services. By definition, the residents are vulnerable people and are entitled to peace of mind and not to be upset by the HSE in their works. Three years ago, we raised this in the House, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, was with us and was personally involved in the situation where the HSE announced it was going to close Erkina House three years ago. The Minister…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. I understand and appreciate what she is saying, but, obviously, I have a number of questions. As already stated, the Minister of State was involved in an issue relating to Erkina House a number of years ago and was very positive and helpful on that occasion. The Minister of State indicated that a significant level of investment would be required to develop Erkina House in order to achieve the additional regulatory standards required. We all agree on that. Everybody in…

In my role as a TD, I have had direct involvement on behalf of local communities in respect of the location of wind turbines in various locations throughout County Laois, and some of those developments also impacted on neighbouring counties such as Kilkenny and Carlow. Many years ago, the first involvement I had on behalf of a community was regarding a wind farm called Gortahile in Rossmore, which is overlooking County Carlow but very much in County Laois. When that application came through, the developer was propo…

I thank the Minister for that overview of the midlands region but I am sure he will understand if I speak about Laois in particular. At the end of last year, there were 8,045 IDA-supported jobs in the midlands. Laois has 30% of the population of the midland counties but has only 1.8% of the IDA-supported jobs in the area. If one looks at the county-by-county list produced by the IDA, one sees that Laois has 145 IDA-supported jobs. It is a disgrace. I say that publicly. The total of 145 is, by a mile, the lowest of …

I thank the Minister for that and, in particular, his commitment to help arrange a meeting between the TDs, the chief executive of Laois County Council and appropriate IDA officials - or Enterprise Ireland officials, while we are at it, because the figures for Enterprise Ireland in Laois are abysmally low as well. We are almost at the bottom. I will make a few key points. The Minister mentioned Leprino. That company provides 135 jobs. We hope we can get a replacement. It is a high-tech business. That replacement, h…

I would like to know whether the Taoiseach has a date of publication for the review of the national development plan and whether he knows the period to be covered by the updated plan. As Chair of the Joint Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery, I believe everybody in the House must accept the need for long-term investment in housing, transport, water, electricity and health digitalisation. My view, based on the meetings we have had so far, is that this will require substantial funding i…

Time is up. Goodbye, Mary Lou.

Goodbye Mary Lou.

I thank Senator Fiona O'Loughlin for raising this matter and for the opportunity to provide an update on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Government is committed to helping homeowners affected by defects arising from the original date of construction to get their homes and lives back together. In December 2023, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien announced the opening of an interim remediation scheme for fire safety defects in apartments and duplexes. The scheme provides…

I will certainly do as Senator O’Loughlin asked on behalf on these residents in Newbridge. It may not be an isolated case. It is the only case I am aware of but it may have happened in other areas. I will bring it back to the Minister so the number of houses that have suffered damage during this period can be checked. There cannot be too many cases like this in the country. It would be good to have an idea, for future reference, how many houses are in some of these multi-unit development complexes with apartments a…

I thank the Senator for raising the issue of the power outages in his area. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I also acknowledge the fact that we are dealing with areas of south Kildare, including Athy, Kildare, Monasterevin and Newbridge, and Portarlington in my area. I am conscious of that. As the Senator will know, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities - as an independent regulator which is accountable to a comm…