Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I am satisfied that the position is improving, I want to see more being done. I expect IDA Ireland to promote every location actively. There is no doubt that site visits outside main population centres have increased. Since 2015, IDA Ireland has been working towards the targets set out in its strategy, Winning: Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019. Under this strategy, ambitious investment targets have been set on a regional basis for the first time. IDA Ireland aims to increase overall investment by 30% to 40% in each region. Statistics compiled by IDA Ireland already show a steady increase in the number of site visits outside Dublin. In 2015, some 57% of site visits were to locations outside Dublin, which represented an increase on the 2014 figure of 43%. Figures for the first quarter of 2016 show that this trend is continuing, with 58% of visits so far this year being outside Dublin. This renewed emphasis on regional development is achieving results already. A record 18,983 new jobs were created by IDA Ireland client companies in 2015. Of these, some 53% are based outside Dublin, compared to 49% in 2014.

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