Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The total costs associated with administering the IDA's 18 overseas offices in 2011 was €10.5 million. These offices are located in New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Irvine and Mountain View in California, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangalore, Australia, Russia and Brazil. It is not possible to give a breakdown of the cost of each individual office, but the total costs associated with the six offices in the US are €5.4 million; the three European offices are €2.5 million; and the nine remaining offices in Asia and growth markets are €2.5 million.

The IDA's network of overseas offices is required to underpin the agency's overall strategic plan, Horizon 2020. Its overseas offices are the first point of contact for potential new investors into Ireland and also provide ongoing contact between the agency and its existing clients. The opening of additional offices by the IDA in recent years is part of the Government's worldwide strategy to increase the IDA's international presence in the attraction of foreign direct investment.

By their nature multinational corporations are located in various regions globally. The sourcing of any individual project is a team effort involving negotiations with more than one branch of the multinational corporation. These negotiations take place in overseas locations and in Ireland and are carried out by IDA officials based in headquarters and regional offices in Ireland and in overseas offices. The United States remains a key IDA market, with 72% of foreign direct investment in Ireland originating from the US. Europe is the next biggest market, with Germany leading the way and then the UK and France. As the global economy, and in particular the European economy which is a primary target market for foreign direct investment clients in Ireland, is in a low growth phase, the challenge for the IDA is to continue to win foreign direct investment in this low growth environment.

The IDA has 1,004 client companies which provide full-time employment to more than 130,000 people. Just over 50% of these client companies are based in the United States. The European market accounts for 399 client companies providing employment to 29,000 people while the remaining Asian and growth markets account for 90 client companies employing 5,600 people. To date in 2012, 49 investment announcements have been made with the potential to create almost 5,500 jobs, and 37 of these investments were from US companies.

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