David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the two witnesses to the committee today, and I very much welcome Mr. Ryan's appointment. He certainly brings a skill-set and assets to the job that I think will serve the IDA very well. I wish him the very best of luck in his new role. I have a number of questions that I would like to put to the witnesses, especially Mr. Ryan.

My first question is about the information that we get, as Oireachtas Members, from the IDA. It is important that there is full transparency and that we get as much information as possible. I am talking primarily about job announcements. It is very important that we get the information very quickly about the follow-up. We often have job announcements but we do not always see them materialise into real jobs created. It would be important if we could be given that information as quickly as possible and be always kept informed about progress once jobs are being announced. I would like to get information about the number of jobs created from within the State, from outside the State and so on, which would be useful to us.

Mr. Ryan's previous role will help in deepening links between the SME sector and the FDI sector, and between Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. That is very important. If we can get more FDI into the different regions of the State, that will create spin-out opportunities for SMEs, and these very much go hand in hand. Mr. Ryan's experience with Enterprise Ireland will certainly benefit the IDA as well. What is Mr. Ryan's own view on how we can deepen and strengthen the links between the two organisations?

I must raise regional disparities and strategies, as the previous speaker did. I am from the south east. We have very high levels of unemployment, which are 4% above the national average. Unemployment in Waterford city is at over 20%, which is the city I represent. Before Mr. Ryan came in, I presented him with a copy of the south east economic development strategy, which this committee published. I do not expect him to know the detail of that report but it made a number of clear recommendations which we were hoping the IDA would implement. The main recommendation was for a regional office with a regional director of the IDA based in the south east. There should not be a director and an office just for the sake of it, as there should be the support staff and a strategy for the region as well. The figures presented to us by the IDA are not encouraging. There were 315 jobs created by IDA sponsored companies in 2011, while 1,095 jobs were lost. In 2010, there were 406 jobs created and 887 jobs lost. In 2009, there were 427 jobs created and 938 lost. It is good that the IDA is bringing jobs into Ireland but we need to make sure that there is balanced regional development. There is a commitment from the Government that 50% of all FDI jobs would be outside the main urban centres of Cork, Dublin and Galway. That was dropped from the revised jobs action strategy but it is still there as an objective. I would like to hear Mr. Ryan's view on that, on the south east and on other regions that are underperforming.

There are FDI challenges in the areas of life sciences and the pharmaceutical sector. It is an area that the south east is strong but we know that the pharmaceutical sector faces issues in respect of the patent cliff and so on. The CEO of the IDA recently spoke about the challenges that the sector faces but perhaps Mr. Ryan can give his own view on it. The issue of tax avoidance - if I can use the term - by multinational companies has come up, and I know it is being examined by the OECD, by the G7 and the EU. What is Mr. Ryan's view on that? How can Ireland make sure that we are not seen as a country that allows tax avoidance?

I would like to finish by wishing Mr. Ryan the very best of luck in his new role. I have no doubt that with his experience and qualifications he will add real value to the organisation.