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

Since 2011 IDA Ireland has opened three additional offices in overseas locations. During 2013 two additional overseas offices were opened, one in Korea and one in Beijing, with one member of staff in each office. In 2014 an additional office was opened in Texas in the United States. It has two staff members. In 2011 IDA Ireland ceased to have a presence in Taiwan, with activity now being managed from China.

The BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - form the core countries of IDA Ireland’s growth markets strategy, together with the ASEAN region, comprising South Africa, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Since 2007 IDA Ireland has opened offices in all of the BRIC countries. The agency now has three offices in China and two in India, as well as having a presence in Moscow in Russia and Sao Paulo in Brazil. These offices are staffed by a combination of permanent staff, contract employees and part-time consultants, numbering 11 in all. In the past three years IDA Ireland has secured an emerging base of investments from India - HCL, Wipro, TCS and Genpact - and China - Huawei, ICBC, CDB and Satir - and was integral in facilitating the acquisition of Air Atlanta’s aero-engineering facility at Shannon by the Russianairline Transaero.

Although IDA Ireland does not have an office in the Middle East, I am informed by the agency that its growth markets team in Dublin, in conjunction with its international financial services division, works with the embassy network in the region to identify and target prospective client companies, particularly in the growth area of Islamic finance.

One of the disruptive reforms set out in An Action Plan for Jobs 2014 is the Winning Abroad initiative which targets the creation of an additional 10,000 jobs - 6,000 direct and 4,000 indirect - over and above the annual jobs target of 13,000. Additional resources have been provided for IDA Ireland to enable the agency to recruit an additional 35 staff on a contract basis for a period of three years to cover the lifetime of the initiative. The additional staff will be based at various locations, including Boston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Mountain View, Irvine, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney and Dublin. To date, 21 staff have been recruited and interviews are ongoing to fill the remaining positions.

One of the high level goals set out IDA Ireland’s strategy document, Horizon 2020, for the period 2010 to 2014, is that of achieving 20% of greenfield investment from high growth markets, including the BRIC countries, by the end of 2014. The agency informs me that it is confident that this target will be achieved.

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