Ms Mary Buckley:

IDA Ireland is very familiar with the importance of Dublin Airport and the access it provides for our clients and their customers, products, etc. Airports, access and connections are critically important. The Senator mentioned the construction of the office developments at Dublin Airport, known as Dublin Airport Central, with which we are also very familiar. I understand construction has commenced and we will be marketing those offices as part of our proposition to clients.

When it comes to clients and what they are looking for, it varies depending on the sector and the activities in which the company is involved, be it manufacturing, services, or research, development and innovation. If I were to pick the most important item for our clients when they are looking at Ireland alongside other locations against which we are competing, the biggest item is probably talent and talent availability. That piece is certainly critically important. Under that, I would say it is the availability of an experienced and talented workforce and the calibre and quality of students coming from our third level colleges. Those would be the first two items they are looking for. The type of activity the company is involved in, be it services or manufacturing, will also dictate what kind of services it is looking for in the form of water, power, etc.

In tandem with that, there would also be a focus on property, particularly commercial office and manufacturing property solutions. That would be critical too. Across the board, one can select a number of areas in which it is important for our clients to be able to feel that the people they are bringing into the country to work and who are already here will locate in the locations that our clients decide to establish in. There are other areas of critical importance that our clients would look at. The list of areas is quite wide. It all depends totally on the activity that the client is involved in. It sometimes depends on who one is competing against too, because it is sometimes Ireland competing against other large urban centres around the globe.