Michael Lowry
Ceist:13 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the towns in which the IDA and CTT have regional offices.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - IDA and CTT Regional Offices.
The IDA have regional offices in Letterkenny, Sligo, Galway, Cork, Killarney, Waterford, Dublin, Dundalk and Athlone. CTT have regional offices in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. The choice of location for regional offices is an operational matter for the agencies concerned.
It is evident from the Minister's reply that there is no Industrial Development Authority regional office in the mid-west region. Because of this the region is being placed at a serious disadvantage in terms of promoting the region overseas. Would the Minister indicate if there are any plans to correct this anomaly and outline the extent to which the Industrial Development Authority and Shannon Development are co-operating and whether he is satisfied that the Industrial Development Authority are giving the mid-west region the priority that is necessary?
As the Deputy said the Industrial Development Authority have no regional office in the mid-west region. A senior official of the Industrial Development Authority has been specially appointed to co-ordinate policy, relations and operations between the Industrial Development Authority and Shannon Development. Shannon Development are performing in the mid-west region the functions which are performed by the Industrial Development Authority regional offices in other regions. Shannon Development are fully experienced and fully competent in these matters. I do not accept that the region is being placed at a disadvantage. The change which I found it necessary to make about a year ago — it came into operation last October but I announced it a year ago — in relation to the promotion of the mid-west region related to the promotion of the region overseas. It was very unsatisfactory that the region had to be promoted in competition with the remainder of the country.
Let us now proceed to other questions.
May I ask a brief question?
It has to be a very brief question, Deputy Lowry.
If the Minister is serious about developing the region does it make sense that the key personnel responsible for promoting the mid-west region overseas are based in Dublin and adopting a hands-off approach? Equally, does it make sense that the project executives who deal with foreign companies located in the mid-west region have to travel from Dublin on a weekly or daily basis to deal with them? Would the Minister agree, given our experience in recent months, that the system is unwieldy, impractical, not cost effective and is placing the region at a serious disadvantage?
I do not agree. The executives responsible for promoting the region abroad are not located in Dublin but rather in 12 or more offices throughout the world. Day-to-day contact with companies in the region is not made by executives located in Dublin but rather by executives located in Shannon and Limerick. The work is done by those located there and in part this is in deference to Shannon Development's own wishes to continue to do that work.
Far from it.
Let us deal with Question No. 15.