Mr. Frank Ryan:

I thank the Chairman and the members of the committee for the invitation to come before the committee today. I am honoured to have been asked by the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, to become the chairman of IDA Ireland.

With the Chairman's permission, I wish to take this opportunity to introduce myself personally to the committee. I am a native of Dundalk and attended the Christian Brothers in Dundalk where my main interest lay in the Irish language. I am married to Rose, we have two adult children, Jeremy and Grainne, and one grand-daughter, Jasmine, and we now reside in County Meath. On leaving school, I joined Air Traffic Control and after basic training in Cork Airport was assigned to Dublin Airport. Following the death of my father, Michael, I returned to Dundalk to work in an Irish computer company, Qeleq Limited, for a period of four years. It was while working at Qeleg that I got my first exposure to working with computers and of marketing and, following a further two years of work with Honeywell Computers, Dublin, I was fortunate to join IDA Ireland in August 1978 as a project executive working on the attraction of overseas IT companies to Ireland.

During my 25-year career with IDA Ireland I served in North America from 1979 to 1983 and was a member of the IDA team which successfully attracted the Intel investment to Ireland in 1989. Today, Intel employs more than 4,000 people at Leixlip County Kildare with an associated investment of €7 billion. At the conclusion of my IDA service I was the executive director of the agency responsible for the attraction of foreign direct investment to Ireland.

My service with IDA Ireland also afforded me the opportunity to study. During this time I completed a diploma in business strategy at the Irish Management Institute and an MSc in Strategic Management at Trinity College Dublin. Both these qualifications were achieved through part-time study.

I was appointed chief executive officer at Enterprise Ireland in November 2003. By the end of 2012 exports by Irish companies had grown from €9.6 billion in 2003 to €16.2 billion. My tenure at Enterprise Ireland was characterised by a focus on leadership, including the setting of high expectation of my own work ethic and that of others, to deliver on behalf of our clients and the State.

I retired from Enterprise Ireland on 2 November 2013 following the completion of my second five-year term as chief executive officer. Earlier this month I was conferred with an honorary degree, Doctor of Laws, by University College Dublin and was recently the recipient of the Innovation in Management Award 2013 from the Irish Management Institute. In addition, I am currently chairman of the Early Learning Initiative at the National College of Ireland, chairman of the judging panel of the Deloitte Best Managed Company Awards, a council member of the Irish Tax Institute and a member of the Committee of Industry and Commerce at the Royal Dublin Society.

I am deeply familiar with the work of IDA Ireland. It is rightly recognised as the number one foreign direct investment agency in the world. It is a competent, well-run and effective organisation. It has deeply experienced and committed staff and an excellent chief executive. This is not to deny that the IDA needs to continue to sharpen its focus and to evolve to meet the needs of overseas client companies. A number of issues will arise next year. During 2014 Mr. Barry O'Leary will complete his assignment as chief executive officer and will be particularly hard to replace. The identification of a new chief executive is of particular importance and I intend to focus on this important issue in the coming months. It is, of course, a matter for the Minister to appoint members of the board, however, I intend to work with him to ensure that the board always has within its membership the key talent and experience to guide the work of the agency to best effect.

The continued attraction of high levels of foreign direct investment is of key importance to the growth of the economy. In my prior work with the IDA I gained valuable experience of working with the developed economies of the United States, Europe and Japan. During my tenure with Enterprise Ireland I gained additional experience of trade with Asia, the Middle East and South America.

It will be my privilege to work with the IDA board and its staff both at home and overseas. My goal is to utilise my 35 years of experience in economic development to lead the board of the agency in an effective and efficient manner and to maintain the standing of the organisation as the most effective foreign direct investment agency in modern economic times.

I thank the Chairman and the members of the committee for the invitation to appear before the committee today and I will be pleased to take any questions.