Nine counties miss out on IDA site visits

Nine counties with a combined population of more than 800,000 people have received just 22 IDA-sponsored visits by companies between them since 2010, yet Louth with a population of 123,000 has received 65 visits over the same period.

Figures released by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation show a number of counties are receiving significantly fewer IDA-organised visits by potential investors than their neighbours.

There are nine counties — Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan and Roscommon — which have each received four or fewer visits by companies over the last three and a half years. Longford has had no visits and Leitrim has only had one.