Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the main factors likely to encourage foreign direct investment here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21134/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The combined influence of Ireland's increased competitiveness in business costs, commitment to our 12.5% corporate tax rate, strong Government's commitment to research and technology, strong links between industry and third level institutions, a talented workforce, and a strong track record of foreign direct investment all contribute to make Ireland an attractive location for foreign direct investment ( FDI).

On a global scale, Ireland scores extremely well in many of the key areas of importance to investors, helping drive FDI. "The IMD World Competiveness Yearbook, 2011" ranks Ireland 1st in the world for corporate taxes, 1st for business legislation for foreign investors and 1st for the availability of skilled labour. The same report also ranks Ireland 2nd in the world for consumer price inflation, 3rd for direct investment flows inward, 3rd for availability of finance skills, 4th in the world for labour productivity, and 4th for exports of commercial services.

"The World Bank Doing Business Report, 2011" ranks Ireland 1st in the Eurozone for ease of doing business, while Ireland is ranked 2nd most attractive country globally for Foreign Direct Investment by the " NIB/FDI Intelligence Inward Investment Performance Monitor 2011."

Despite global turbulence, FDI in Ireland continues to grow. 2011 was the most successful year for many years in foreign direct investment in Ireland, with a record 148 investments secured (an increase of 17% on the previous year) and 13,000 new jobs created a 20% increase over the previous year.

The importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) to the Irish economy remains highly significant. In addition to exports, FDI accounts for a total of 250,000 jobs (1 in every 7 jobs) in the Irish economy and €19 billion spend on Irish sourced goods and services including €6.9 billion in payroll. Companies who have chosen Ireland as the location for their FDI operations include 9 of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies, 8 of the top 10 US ICT companies, 17 of the top 25 medical device companies, more than 50% of the world's leading financial services firms, the top 10 'born on the internet' companies and 3 of the world's top 5 games companies.

The parties in Government are working together to ensure that a stable political environment underpins its work to being about economic stability. Our objective is to address the economic challenges that we face and to work towards making Ireland the best small country in which to do business. On taking office this Government moved swiftly to complete the restructuring and re-capitalisation of the Banks and is taking action to enhance the flow of lending to small and medium enterprises. We are meeting the fiscal targets set by our funding partners and have succeeded in securing improvements in the interest rates and maturities charged on lending from the European Financial Stability Fund. The recent progress report on the Action Plan for Jobs underlies our determination to fully implement this initiative in order to get people back to work.

The immediate outlook for Ireland's foreign investment portfolio is positive with a short term pipeline in place. I am satisfied that the actions of this government and the work being done by IDA on the ground will continue to lead to new investment wins for Ireland.