Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Forfás annual employment survey, which reports on job gains and losses in companies supported by the enterprise development agencies, shows that 172 new jobs were created in IDA companies in Waterford in 2013, an increase of 55 on the number created in 2012. There are currently 28 IDA client companies employing more than 5,000 people in Waterford city and county. The number of net IDA jobs in Waterford increased in 2013, the first increase in six years.

During 2013 there were two significant IDA investment announcements for Waterford. In February, Sanofi announced plans to invest €44 million in Genzyme's biotechnology campus in Waterford. As the Deputy is aware, that will gear the company up for a new and diverse range of products. In March, Nypro Healthcare announced plans to establish an additional state-of-the-art medical devices facility in Waterford. This will result in the creation of over 200 high-quality jobs in the coming years.

As the Deputy knows, following the closure of TalkTalk in Waterford, I have put a particular focus on the south east. I published a south east employment action plan and established a forum of all state agencies and local players to set out actions to increase employment in the area. I have met regularly with IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the forum to review progress.

IDA has announced plans to build new advanced manufacturing facilities in Waterford to enhance the offering in the area and win new business. To support its marketing efforts for the region, IDA Ireland has rolled out a dedicated digital marketing initiative for inward investment focusing on the south east region and Waterford. The number of site visits by prospective IDA clients to the south east and Waterford has increased substantially.

The employment strategy for Waterford and the south east has not only focused on foreign investors. Companies such as Eishtec, Dawn Meats, FeedHenry and Danone have been supported by my Department in creating almost 900 jobs.

IDA has ambitious targets of 50% of investments in regions outside Dublin and Cork, but this has proven to be a difficult target to meet. There are complex factors influencing investor location decision-making, such as the increasing preference for big cities with large-scale populations and significant challenges from lower cost locations.

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I have called on IDA and Enterprise Ireland to work with my Department in order that we can explore what further initiatives to take to ensure a better approach to enterprise development in regional locations. This exercise will complement the in-depth analysis of our foreign direct investment strategy, which is currently being undertaken by Forfás and which will take account of factors such as key trends emerging in FDI best practice internationally, Ireland's strengths in attracting FDI and any changes to the EU state aid rules, which will come into effect on 1 July 2014. The results of these two exercises will form the basis of IDA's strategy from 2015 onwards.

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