IDA under fire over too few site visits to County Wexford

THERE were only 10 IDA site visits to County Wexford over the past two years compared to 446 in County Dublin during the same period, figures which Deputy James Browne says proves there is absolute vacuum in investment in our region.

‘ There has been a complete vacuum of investment in SouthEast over the past 5 years, and this pattern is continuing under the new Minister for Jobs Mary Mitchell O’Connor.

The Government is seemingly pre-occupied on attracting investment to Dublin and the surrounding commuter counties, while allowing the regions to lag behind,’ said Deputy Browne.

He said counties like Wexford have been all but ignored by the IDA.

‘ There have only been 10 site visits to Co. Wexford over the past 2 years. This is having an impact on job creation as potential investors are not being attracted into Wexford. It’s no surprise that the unemployment rate in the South-East 10.4%, significantly higher than the 7.7% for the rest of the country.

‘Furthermore the South-East region accounted for just 13% of employment gains over the last twelve months.’

deputy Browne said that not only is economic investment well below what’s needed, but essential services like broadband remain unreliable in many areas, particularly outside of large urban areas. ‘Wexford has the ninth highest population in the entire country yet we are not receiving our fair share of IDA investment.

The Government needs to direct the IDA to do more to attract inward investment for Wexford.

‘ The economic difficulty we are experiencing in the South East also highlights the need for additional educational facilities in the region. We need to ensure the necessary infrastructure is developed.’