Bruton under pressure on IDA strategy

JOBS Minister Richard Bruton is coming under pressure from TDs within his own party to force the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to tackle unemployment in counties with some of the highest rates of joblessness in the country.

Figures released by the IDA earlier this week showed many rural counties had barely been visited by its client companies for the last three years.

They also showed a number of counties had received IDA grants that were a fraction of the support given to their more populated counterparts.