I thank the Tánaiste for recently confirming in reply to a parliamentary question I tabled that IDA Ireland will build a second advance facility in Tralee. That is very welcome. It follows on from the first advance facility which was built by IDA Ireland several years ago. It now houses Central Pharma and will become operational in the first quarter of the new year. This is an issue on which I am working hard with Councillor Jim Finucane in Tralee. He, too, is passionate about it. He raised it at a meeting of Kerry County Council on Monday and pointed out there are many suitable vacant sites in the technology park. I brought the Minister of State, Deputy English, there last week to show him the vacant sites. It is very important the Tánaiste pushes to make this happen as soon as possible. We know Central Pharma will provide numerous jobs for Tralee and Kerry. Another advance facility could provide hundreds of jobs for Tralee and Kerry and would be vital to the economy, but we need to see it happening as soon as possible. I welcome the progress made to date.

IDA Ireland is committed to building a second new advance technology building in Tralee. I know both Deputy Griffin and Councillor Jim Finucane have been working on the matter for quite some time. The site selection process is under way. Securing planning permission and the construction of the building will be the next step after that. It is intended the facility will be built during the lifetime of the current IDA Ireland strategy, that is, not later than 2024. The advance technology building might be used either as a new office development or an industrial investment, given the flexible nature of the kind of building solutions IDA Ireland does. The intention is to use this building solution to secure a foreign direct investment for Tralee that will create hundreds of new jobs for the town and the region.