asked the Minister for Industry and Energy if he will outline the IDA's proposals for North Kerry in the context of their latest plan to promote industrial development.

5.

asked the Minister for Industry and Energy the latest available unemployment figures for (1) the Tralee urban area; (2) the Listowel urban area; (3) Castleisland, County Kerry and (4) the North Kerry constituency; and the action, if any, he proposes to take in the matter.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together.

I am informed by the Central Statistics Office that on 28 January 1983, there were 3,599 on the unemployment register in the Tralee employment exchange and 1,954 unemployed register in the Listowel employment exchange. There is no employment exchange in Castleisland.

I am informed by the Industrial Development Authority that they have a total of over 85 acres of industrial land at five locations in North Kerry and 47,300 sq. ft. of advance factory space available for promotion. I propose to circulate details of these facilities in the form of a tabular statement.

In addition, the IDA own a 604 acre strategic deep water site at Ballylongford which is suitable for heavy industry.

The following is the statement:

IDA Facilities available in North Kerry.

In view of the serious unemployment situation in North Kerry would the Minister request the IDA to give that area special consideration when they are allocating suitable industries?

I will convey the Deputy's views to the IDA.

In view of the imbalance of funds between Cork and Kerry, would the Minister readjust that imbalance?

The Deputy made that statement here before. I promised him I would inquire into that allegation with the IDA. They informed me that they do not accept that there has been any preference given to the county of Cork as against that of Kerry by the authority.

The Minister undertook to send me certain information arising out of those questions.

I have the Deputy's letter here. It does not relate to this particular matter. The Deputy was inquiring about business——

The Minister promised to write to me.

I have the letter in draft form.

I was expecting a letter from Saudi Arabia.

I can assure the Leader of the Opposition that he will have a letter from me within the next five days.

We have spent 20 minutes on this question.

I wish to draw the Minister's attention to the 1981 IDA report which sets out the imbalance between Cork and Kerry.

You cannot take one IDA report in isolation. If you did that you would find an unbalanced situation as I did in respect of my own county some months ago when I tried to examine how it was affected in 1981. If the Deputy takes a number of years together he will see that since 1980 the IDA have approved 160 projects involving a projected investment of over £32 million to County Kerry, of which the IDA are committed to subscribing over £17 million. That is no small investment.

The Minister stated that there are 3,500 unemployed in Tralee. Would he ask the IDA to direct their attention to providing an industry there?

The figure is 3,599. I will convey the Deputy's concern in that matter to the IDA.