Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the discussions that have taken place between the IDA and Cork County Council with regard to increasing the land available to the agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6500/25]

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I congratulate the Minister and Ministers of State on their appointments and wish them every success in the new roles. I will focus on the availability of land in Cork and the opportunity to develop enterprise there. Will the Minister outline the discussions between the council, the Department and the IDA to ensure there are adequate opportunities, land and sites available for growing enterprises in Cork?

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his warm remarks and his important question on Cork County Council. The ongoing replenishment of stock is essential to ensuring the portfolio remains fit-for-purpose and meets the evolving needs of the FDI, Enterprise Ireland and LEO client base. A ready supply of appropriately zoned land for development is required for IDA to fulfil its remit and continued success in attracting FDI to Ireland. IDA, therefore, maintains a focus on land banks to future-proof the ability of its property portfolio to support the project pipeline, most notably large-scale, capital-intensive projects which have significant regional and national economic impact.

IDA Ireland continually engages with key stakeholders and service providers, including Cork County Council, to ensure an understanding of IDA's land requirements and the availability of suitable lands for client investment across all activities and sectors as they arise. In this connection, the IDA has an extensive property footprint in many towns across County Cork, and there are currently 219 IDA client companies directly employing almost 50,000 employees in the city and county.

Given the importance of property availability to winning investments into regional locations, and owing to ongoing market challenges, IDA’s continued intervention in delivering and maintaining a portfolio of advanced property solutions across our regions to support investments remains paramount and is reflected in the new IDA strategy, which we launched yesterday. We are looking at having 23 new regional advance factory units, which will be very important, and three large-scale sites to attract investment. We are liaising strongly with Cork city and county councils to ensure we can have significant land banks to attract this investment.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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It sounds like there is a great deal of background work going on. I will focus on one sector of enterprise. Cork County Council has had successful sites in which it supported smaller enterprises: Macroom E, for example, and a number of others across the county. As these smaller enterprises grow, they need additional space to expand. Enterprise Ireland and IDA's focus is international and large scale, so this group of businesses falls between two stools. They are not big enough for IDA or Enterprise Ireland and they have outgrown their facility in Cork County Council. A focus should be on these often indigenous organisations, whether they trade locally, nationally or internationally, to ensure there is a space for them. IDA should recognise that.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy raises a valid point and that is why we are launching in the coming weeks Enterprise Ireland's new strategy for the next five years. We need a stronger relationship with Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to make sites available to smaller indigenous enterprises which have grown significantly in recent years. I have raised this with the Department and my fellow Ministers. It is an area we will zone in on because there are significant smaller enterprises which have a land requirement, particularly in the light manufacturing sector. We will be doing work on that. IDA has assured me it is working with Enterprise Ireland to make land available should it be required. We have to do more in that space. It is important we focus heavily on our regions in the next Enterprise Ireland strategy, just as the IDA has. We will have a significant target in our indigenous base for Enterprise Ireland, building on the 67% of regional investments we have seen in growth in the past five years.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Tá sé fíorthábhachtach go ndíreofaí isteach ar riachtanaisí phobal na Gaeltachta agus comhlachtaí Údarás na Gaeltachta chomh maith. Tá an cheist cheannann chéanna le réiteach. Tá an t-údarás dírithe ar Gteic units i mBaile Bhuirne, i gColáiste Iosagáin agus mar shampla, i mBéal Átha an Ghaorthaidh. A similar situation arises in the Gaeltacht area with Údarás na Gaeltachta and the smaller enterprises it has supported in its gteic units. It does that in Gaeltacht areas across the country. Has a similar conversation been taking place with Údarás na Gaeltachta to ensure adequate lands are available for companies who outgrow the gteic units and similar situations?

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I wish the Ministers well in the term ahead. I echo the sentiments of Deputy Moynihan in relation to IDA land in Offaly. We have suffered redundancies at Nelipac and Cardinal Health and it is pertinent to see acquisition of land to attract further IDA company investment to the county. There were three visits in 2023 and five in 2024. We need now to secure land in order to secure investment. I invite the Minister to the county to discuss with our local authorities progressing this further.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I would be happy to facilitate a meeting with Deputy Moynihan and to work on the land banks that need to be made available through Údarás na Gaeltachta or Enterprise Ireland for smaller agencies. It is something we need to improve upon. I would be happy to work with the Deputy in that regard. I do not have specific figures on the work carried out with Údarás but I will come back to the Deputy.

I worked hard with Deputy Clendennen to deliver a significant land bank in County Offaly. These issues are commercially sensitive, given the ongoing negotiations with IDA. I am acutely aware of the work the Deputy has done on Cardinal Health and the big challenge we have there. As a midlands Minister, I will be to the forefront in working with the Deputy on delivering high value jobs to the regions, building on the 54% outside of our capital city we saw IDA deliver last year - the figure was 67% for Enterprise Ireland. The future is bright with all the good work we will be doing.