John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of visits made by the Industrial Development Agency and potential investors they are working with to Kerry this year; the number of IDA related jobs created in Kerry this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46215/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by IDA that to date in 2010 there have been 2 visits by potential investors to county Kerry.

As part of its strategy to attract inward investment, IDA Ireland introduces a prospective client company to 3 or 4 selected locations/towns which can meet the company's requirements for skills, labour, site and/or building(s), infrastructure, etc. In selecting locations to show companies, IDA Ireland seeks to include locations which have been affected by closures/job losses. While IDA Ireland seeks to influence the selection of location, the final decision on where to visit and where to locate is taken in all cases by the promoting company.

Job creation figures for 2010 will not be available until early 2011, but the Forfás Annual Employment Survey shows that 25 new jobs were created in IDA supported companies in Kerry in 2009 and that at the end of that year there were 14 IDA Ireland supported companies in Kerry employing a total of 1,407 permanent staff.

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 358: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of visits made by Enterprise Ireland and potential investors they are working with to Kerry this year; the number of Enterprise Ireland related jobs created in Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46216/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Site visits from potential investors normally relate to projects which are mobile and, more often than not, are from overseas. The Enterprise Ireland portfolio of indigenous client companies is, of its nature, not very mobile, and therefore the number of such site visits arranged by the agency only relates to a small number of companies. Enterprise Ireland has not made any site visits to Co. Kerry this year.

Enterprise Ireland monitors the employment trends in the companies it supports through the Annual Employment Survey, conducted in conjunction with Forfás. The results of this survey are released in January of each year. The figures for 2009, which are the most recent available, show 130 Enterprise Ireland client companies in Co. Kerry employing 3,151 full time and 444 part-time people.