Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he has studied the reasons for investment and job relocations from this country to other EU member states in each of the past five years and to date in 2011; the steps he proposes to take to address any issues arising; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14953/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Many of the recent jobs losses which have occurred are as a result of the restructuring process which is going on in industry in Ireland whereby activities (and hence jobs) at the lower end of the value added scale are being phased out as these activities become uneconomic in an Irish context. Manufacturing is the bed-rock on which the growth in Ireland's FDI was founded. Mirroring the rest of our economy, manufacturing is also in transition. Historically, it has been a significant segment of our investment portfolio and it will continue to remain so. Higher technological investment and higher value products will be the hallmark of future manufacturing operations in Ireland. The sector will be characterised by increased international competition and enhanced output volumes due to investments in technology and automation. These operations will be knowledge, capital and skills intensive, characterised by a participative innovative culture where management and staff continuously collaborate to drive innovation, productivity, agility, learning and adaptability. Globally, manufacturing jobs, as a percentage of total employment, will continue to decrease even in lower cost locations.

In March 2010, IDA published its strategy for the forthcoming decade, Horizon 2020. This presents our view of how the environment in which we operate will change over the next ten years, and the opportunities for FDI created by global trends. Horizon 2020 sets out IDA's targets for the 5 year period to 2014 as well as the direction IDA will take in the pursuit of these goals. IDA's strategy includes winning as many new jobs as possible each year and giving equal priority to maintaining existing jobs. We recognise that jobs losses occur every year for a variety of reasons including changing competitiveness, competition from sister sites, product and technology life cycles or global location rationalisation as a result of mergers and acquisitions.

To address the need to maintain jobs in Ireland, IDA is actively encouraging its clients to strongly engage in transformation initiatives, and is assisting them in programmes to:

- Improve company-wide competitiveness.

- Enhance use of new technologies.

- Grow the skills of the business.

- Engage in Research, Development and Innovation.

- Develop new business processes.

- Make company operations more energy efficient.

There is a requirement to have a constant agenda to support clients to improve and invest to transform their Irish operations to ensure jobs can be maintained and losses minimised. Over the past number of years (2006-2010) IDA has continued to attract and retain high value manufacturing investments from leading Global Corporations. A total of 126 investments were announced in 2010 with a combined total of almost 11,000 jobs.

The combined influence of Ireland's increased competitiveness in business costs, commitment to our 12.5% corporate tax rate, transformation of client operations and activities, national Infrastructure development, Government's investment strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation and development of growth markets will continue to attract and increase the level of inward investment in Ireland. Inward investment has continued in 2011 with announcements from companies including Intel, PayPal, Fidelity and LinkedIn. Fourteen out of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies have plants in Ireland, including Abbott, J&J, Pfizer, Schering Plough and Wyeth Medica mainly in high value manufacturing activities. A significant number have supplemented this manufacturing activity with RD&I investments and high value services activities.