2026-02-19

1. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the way in which he will address the disparity in income levels across the State; the way in which he will ensure high-paid jobs are not only centralised in major urban areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13851/26]

What is Minister doing about the disparity in income levels across the State and what is he doing to ensure that well-paid jobs are not just centralised in the major urban areas but also spread out to the regions? I and many other rural and regional Deputies stand here week in, week out asking for fairness and balanced regional investment to attract secure and well-paid jobs to our regions. We have an over-concentration of high-paid employment in major urban centres forcing people to relocate or commute long distances just to access employment opportunities.

The programme for Government sets out a strong enterprise and fiscal framework that prioritises economic and employment growth. Last year, the Irish labour market saw sustained employment growth and rising participation with a record number of persons at work at 2.8 million people so our policies are working and our economy is resilient. The latest data to hand shows that our labour market was better than many had expected in the latter part of 2025 with the monthly unemployment rate revised down to 4.7% in December. Other data, such as CSO information on employee payrolls, also shows positive momentum at the end of 2025 with employee numbers up 2%. However, I do expect that activity levels will moderate through this year in part due to international conditions but also given that the labour market is close to full employment. My Department is continually monitoring labour market conditions and several of our recent initiatives will be central to supporting the broader economy not least our ambitious investment plans and the action plan on competitiveness and productivity I published last year. The Government remains fully committed to improving our competitive position and adding more jobs in the future and the action plan has a range of measures to build a more resilient economy. Another important initiative on the labour market front will be the successor strategy to Pathways to Work 2021-2025, which is overseen by the Department of Social Protection. That Department has recently concluded a public consultation on this as the Government looks to develop a new successor strategy. In respect of the high paid jobs being centred on major urban areas, it is important to stress this Government’s commitment to balanced regional development. Over the past number of years, we have seen strong regional development with intensive employment growth post-pandemic. Since the pandemic, numbers at work have increased by close to one fifth - 440,000 persons. In fact, budget 2026 highlighted in particular the spread of employment growth with job gains in every region in marked contrast to previous employment expansions. For example, between 2013 and 2019, growth was disproportionately driven by Dublin.

The newly released 2024 data from the CSO shows stark disparities in disposable income and worrying employment trends, particularly around the northern and western region. I will set out some of the figures that are causing me concern. The average disposable income per person nationally in 2024 was €30,139 but in the northern and western region, it was €27,166. In Mayo, it was €27,343, which was almost 10% below the national average. That is not a marginal gap but a clear regional imbalance that confirms what communities already know, which is that workers in the northern and western region are more likely to be in lower-paid employment and have less money left at the end of the month. Even more alarmingly, in 2024, 58,140 people were recorded as employed in jobs physically located in Mayo, which was a drop of 8.7% on 2023.

I would point out that the gold standard for us as politicians and our citizens is the CSO. It has pointed out that all 13 sectors of the economy are growing equally and that the gross average industrial wage is over €1,000 per week, which is a 45% increase since 2015. We have seen 2,700 new jobs in the west over the past year, which means 2,700 families have an additional income this year compared to last year. It also means that we are working to ensure we have very strong clients based on budget 2026. Look at Hollister in the Deputy's own area. Look at AbbeVie, Coca-Cola, Fanta and Baxter. These are huge multinational clients providing high-value jobs in the west. The policies in budget 2026, particularly our research, development and innovation tax credit, will deliver high-quality, high-paid jobs and that is what this Government is committed to doing.

There is something to see here. I ask the Minister to pay attention to this because what I quoted to him in terms of the drop of 8.7% in 2024 in Mayo alone represents 5,540 fewer jobs located in the county in just one year. Yes, some people commute to neighbouring counties but when the number of jobs physically based in a county falls so sharply, it signals declining regional investment and missed opportunity. While this data does not yet include 2025, it paints a deeply worrying picture of growing regional inequality. The statistics do not lie. Balanced regional development cannot just remain a slogan. If high-paid jobs continue to cluster in a small number of urban centres, we will deepen the housing crisis pressures in those cities, hollow out rural communities and widen the income gap between regions so we need very targeted regional enterprise strategies and stronger incentives for high-value industries to locate in the northern and western region.

The data I am quoting relates to quarter 3 of 2025, so this is the up-to-date data regarding new high-quality jobs going to the west. The figure is 2,700. There are 3,900 new jobs in the midlands while the figure in the south west grew by about 4.7%, so all sectors are growing, all component parts that make up our economy are growing and our wages are growing. Critically, the key point in the CSO annual return in December was that this is the first time that we have seen real wage growth in our economy and that the growth in wages outpaced the rate of inflation, which means people have more purchasing power. The data is very clear for everyone to see. We want to continue on the basis of budget 2026 to bring more high-quality jobs to rural areas. Our IDA strategy is very focused on that with 55% going to the regions. This will be key to delivering that over the next five years and we are very much committed to doing that.