I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this matter, the closure of Fitzpack Ballindine Limited, on the Adjournment. The loss of jobs to the Ballindine area is equivalent to the loss of 150 jobs to a place like Galway or Limerick. If the company is to close, a replacement industry must be found.
Ballindine is trying hard to succeed. It is a small rural village with a population of approximately 300 people. The population has increased in the recent past and the number of pupils in the local school has also increased. It is a five teacher school. The increasing population in the past ten to 15 years led to talk that the school might become a six teacher school but that will not happen now unless steps are taken to help the area. This is a vibrant community with new housing estates but it is now under threat. That is regrettable. I urge the Government to do something to prevent these job losses or, if the jobs are lost, to secure a replacement industry.
Is it time to stop grant aid being paid to Dublin? We have received the recent report from the IDA. The CSO is ringing alarm bells about what is happening in Dublin. Traffic moves at the pace of an ass and cart. However, half the graduates from the west have to go to Dublin to get their first job. What is happening in Ballindine is bad news. The IDA has not been helpful in Mayo. Recently it failed to secure an industry for the town of Ballinrobe because it would not provide the support the industry believed was required.
According to the IDA report, there were only seven IDA projects outside Dublin or Cork last year. Ballindine has Objective One status but what good is that when it cannot get industry to locate there? What good are the higher grants when there is no industry to get those grants? Total employment in IDA-supported jobs fell by 10% in the BMW area whereas, in the east, it increased by 0.4%. This is extremely worrying. Nobody knows what will happen in 2006 but there will be severe restrictions on grant aid.
The developments in Ballindine and Ballinrobe are worrying but the IDA seems to be impotent, especially in view of its last report. Is the game up for the west of Ireland? The north-west of Mayo is the most deprived area in the country. The IDA has been paying €120,000 per year for a vacant factory in Ballinrobe for the past 15 to 20 years. There are another 15 years to run on the lease, which means an expenditure of €1.8 million. Where is the balanced development if the jobs in Ballindine are allowed to go and no replacement industry is found? Where is the national spatial strategy in all of this? Where does north Mayo fit in? I ask the Government to address the Ballindine situation, which is a good example of what is happening in this area of the west.
