Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 62: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the changes that she will implement in relation to the policy of the Industrial Development Authority regarding the attraction of investment and jobs to certain counties and regions; the criteria that will be attached to the policy in respect of the way in which a county will be prioritised for attracting inward investment; the counties which will be excluded under this new policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11129/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Last Tuesday, 2nd March, I launched "Horizon 2020", IDA Ireland's Strategy for the period to 2020, which shows the way forward for Ireland to achieve ambitious goals for Foreign Direct Investment and to create the maximum amount of high-quality Irish jobs for the greatest number of our people. In the current circumstances, a vibrant and growing Foreign Direct Investment sector remains central to an economic recovery based on export-led growth and the development of the Smart Economy. For 50 years, successive Governments have supported efforts by the IDA to attract foreign direct investment to Ireland as a cornerstone of our national enterprise policy.

IDA has a strong commitment to ensuring balanced regional development across the country and one of the key targets of this new Strategy, which I particularly welcome, is the target of ensuring that in the period 2010- 2014, 50% of FDI projects will be located outside of Dublin and Cork. This is a challenging target. In line with the National Spatial Strategy IDA's new strategy places renewed emphasis on the "Gateway" regions. The "gateways" in Ireland are going to be critical growth areas in the future Successful enterprise development and the creation of an attractive location are interdependent. Regions/Gateways that support strong and dynamic enterprise are crucial to Ireland's return to balanced economic growth and IDA will continue to focus on balanced development through these regional gateways.

In addition the agency proposes to look at innovative ways to leverage its property portfolio to support the enterprise sector, particularly in rural locations. IDA's contribution to regional development will be primarily as a stimulator of economic activity through key investment, which brings high value employment and expertise, and promotes confidence and overall economic dynamism within the region. Within these regions, I know that IDA will be sensitive to particular pressure points as they arise. The overriding priority for IDA remains the winning of high quality investments for Ireland.

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 63: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of invitations issued to potential industrialists to visit County Kerry with a view to setting up industries over the past two years; the number of such visits which actually took place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11120/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Kerry has traditionally been a centre of manufacturing for foreign direct investment, However over recent years it has proved challenging to maintain and attract overseas manufacturing companies into the County as much of this investment globally is going to low cost destinations such as Eastern and Central Europe and China. As a result of this shift in global manufacturing, Kerry has seen a number of closures within the multinational sector. At the end of 2009 there were 14 IDA Ireland supported companies in Kerry employing approximately 1,407 permanent staff.

In line with the National Development Plan, IDA's focus is on attracting investment to the National Spatial Strategy 2002-2020 linked hub locations of Killarney in South Kerry and Tralee in North Kerry. These locations represent the critical mass required by potential investors in terms of population, skills and infrastructure. IDA Ireland promotes Kerry as part of an integrated region with access to the county population base of 139,616 as well as the expanded population of both the Mid West and South West Regions with a combined population of 935,039. The attractiveness of Kerry for inward investment has to be seen within a regional context with particular reference to its proximity to the Gateway cities of Limerick/Shannon and Cork. Taking a regional rather than a purely local approach will enable the twin hubs of Tralee and Killarney to compete effectively with other strong regions, cities and countries, as the critical mass needed in terms of population, skills and infrastructure can be met.

IDA Ireland is actively promoting the Kerry to prospective investors across the full range of IDA targeted sectors, but specifically IDA Ireland is targeting the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and Internationally Traded Services sectors via its network of overseas offices and project divisions. Every effort will be made to secure new advanced knowledge based industry for the area. Particular emphasis is being paid to attract emerging companies to Kerry taking advantage of the supportive environment that has been developed in Kerry for start-up and emerging companies.

In 2009 four overseas firms visited Kerry. In addition presentations have been made to many overseas firms on the benefit of setting up or expanding operations in Kerry. IDA has maintained a consistent flow of itineraries / site visits by companies to County Kerry over a number of years. See table below for numbers of visits by year:

To support this strategy, IDA Ireland is working closely with educational institutions in the region, in developing the skill sets necessary to attract high value added employment to the county. IDA is also working with FAS to provide guidance in developing the skill sets needed by those in the workforce who are interested in upskilling.

It is equally important that Ireland maintains and grow the existing FDI portfolio in the region and therefore a substantial programme is undertaken by IDA with the existing overseas companies. This programme is designed to help consolidate and where possible grow existing operations in the region. This means achieving substantial productivity improvements or the addition of new business functions such as R&D, marketing, logistics management, shared service centres, customer or technical support activities. Essentially we are supporting the companies in moving up or around the value chain in their Irish operations and basing their success more on innovation, higher skills inputs and knowledge-based activity. An example of this is the announcement in September 2008 by Aetna that it is to expand its existing operation with the addition of 70 jobs in Castleisland.

IDA Ireland's strategy for Kerry involves: -

Transition to the knowledge economy by winning new foreign direct investment (FDI) in innovation driven, high value, high skills sectors -

Working with our existing company base through our Strategic Development Programme to expand their presence in Ireland through the addition of increased functions of scale and increased strategic functions -

Achieving balanced regional development under the framework of the National Spatial Strategy -

In co-operation with Shannon Development and the ongoing provision of sectorally focussed property solutions with supporting infrastructure -

Working with Local Authorities and other partners to influence the creation of the right infrastructural environment to help win new FDI throughout the region

IDA Ireland is targeting high value projects, which means that companies who decide to visit Ireland have more sophisticated business requirements. Their key need in determining where they will visit, and consequently where they will potentially locate, tends to centre on the following criteria:

Quality business environment with access to a large population base

Proximity to international airport and top quality road infrastructure to allow ease of access

Proximity to similar types of companies

Adjacent to a third level institution

Located on a business and technology park with high quality office accommodation and telecoms infrastructure. In the case of many towns, all of these requirements may not be fully met and this can be an inhibitor to attracting overseas investment.

An issue IDA encounters in encouraging investment into Regional locations is the desire of investors to locate in areas with large population bases - typically populations in excess of one million. IDA will always strive to attract investment to business and technology parks in regional locations. However, it is integral that locations meet the requirements of each individual client company. Therefore, the ultimate decision on where operations are established lies with the client, whose primary objective will be to establish in the location most aligned with the business needs of their company. IDA Ireland has a pipeline and will continue to promote Kerry at every opportunity. Every effort will be made to secure new advanced knowledge based industry for establishment in the county.

To foster collaboration between industry and academia, IDA Ireland works closely with the local educational infrastructure (i.e. Institute of Technology Tralee) in developing the skill sets necessary to attract high value added employment to the county and to encourage greater interaction with industry on areas of Research and Development. IDA also works with other agencies, such as FAS, to provide guidance in developing the skill sets needed by those in the workforce who are interested in up-skilling. IDA is also actively engaged with Shannon Development in marketing The Kerry Technology Park to prospective client companies.

The Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT) is a progressive Higher Education Institute. The Institute runs a number of courses to certificate, diploma and degree level. There are approximately 2,794 full time students attending ITT with circa 1,200 graduating each year. ITT offer over 100 courses across three schools and 11 departments. The research strategy being pursued by ITT is one which seeks to further strengthen the capacity of the Institute in a manner which will both enhance the educational programme being offered to our students and also enable us to serve the economic, social and cultural life of the region. Current Research Strengths are in the following area:

Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre

Centre for Innovation in Distributed Systems

Centre for Geometric Optics

Centre for Entrepeneurship and Enterprise Development

Centre for Intelligent Mechatronic and Sensor Systems

Kerry Airport with its excellent access to Dublin, London (Stansted & Luton), and Frankfurt (Hahn) is a distinct advantage for the area. International air access is a key requirement of FDI and IDA Ireland supports the continued development of Kerry Airport to facilitate direct access to the county, which will complement existing access from Shannon and Cork Airports. IDA Ireland is centrally engaged with the Kerry Employment Action Team (KEAT) to plan for the county's future economic growth. Specifically this group is focussed on how Kerry can best position itself in the context of the National Spatial Strategy through its response to the National Development Plan.

IDA continues to market all available land and buildings in the County including its 12 acre Business & Technology Park at Tiernaboul, Killarney, Co. Kerry. In Tralee, IDA is also marketing the Kerry Technology Park which is owned and managed by Shannon Development in partnership with the Institute of Technology Tralee. Kerry Technology Park is a 113 acre park jointly developed by Shannon Development and the Institute of Technology Tralee. Shannon Development own 50 acres of the campus and has two existing high quality office buildings (Innovation Works 1 &2). Shannon Development has received planning permission from Kerry County Council to add the new building which will have 2,500 sq.m of floorspace divided into office suites for technology based enterprises. The development could see as many as 100 new jobs created in the park. Overall the park offers 35 acres of land for promotion, including existing buildings.

Innovation Works 1 is 26,000 sq ft building of excellent quality fully networked and managed office space (4,000 sq ft currently available).

Innovation Works 2 is a 24,000 sq ft building of excellent quality open plan office space (4,800 sq ft currently available).

IT Tralee has a business incubation centre - the Tom Crean Centre - located in the Kerry Technology Park. The centre offers incubation space and support to start-up companies.

County Kerry has been awarded the prestigious title of European Entrepreneurial Region of the Year 2011 at a ceremony hosted by the EU Committee of the Regions (CoR) in Brussels in February 2010. The European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award is designed to identify and reward EU regions with outstanding entrepreneurial vision and to encourage local and regional authorities to do more to promote small business across Europe. Kerry was one of just three regions in all 27 EU states to receive the accolade, along with Brandenburg, Germany and Murcia in Spain, and was selected based on the quality, efficacy and long-term success of its entrepreneurial vision. Launched in October, the EER award is open to every region in Europe, regardless of its size, population and wealth, and applications were sought from all over Europe. The successful Kerry submission was made jointly by the Institute of Technology, Tralee and Shannon Development, who share a joint campus at Kerry Technology Park