Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Public Accounts Committee

Annual Report and Accounts 2012: Discussion with IDA Ireland

11:10 am

Mr. Barry O'Leary:

In the Horizon 2020 strategy, we set out that 20% of green-field business would come from the growth markets by the end of 2014. While we may achieve that, the projects are small in scale. We have put a great deal of effort into trying to win business from those countries. Practically every country in the world is in those markets and we have a relatively small presence. We are continuing to invest in their development, but that will take more time.

I referred to emerging companies in New York, Silicon Valley and San Francisco. We enjoyed an almost immediate payback on that initiative. There was an immediate payback from the transformation agenda. However, we are not getting an immediate payback of scale from the growth markets. Strategically, though, we must be in them in the medium to long term.