Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Question 283: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of Industrial Development Agency sponsored site visits to locations in Drogheda, County Louth, including the IDA Business Park, Drogheda, County Meath in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26640/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by IDA Ireland that statistics in relation to site visits by potential investors are maintained on a county by county basis only. In the three year period 2009 to 2011 inclusive, there have been a total of 83 IDA sponsored site visits by potential investors to County Louth. The number of such visits paid in each of those years is set out in the attached tabular statement.

The global economy and, in particular, the European economy, which is the primary target market for foreign direct investment (FDI) clients in Ireland, is in a low growth phase. The challenge for IDA is to win FDI in this low growth environment. In addition, there is the intense and continual international competition to win this FDI, which is mainly dominated by Metro City Regions with populations in excess of 1 million people i.e. London, Manchester, Boston, Los Angeles etc. Ireland has only one Metro Region, the Greater Dublin area.

In order to achieve balanced regional development IDA focuses on marketing Gateway locations within each Region as the areas of critical mass. IDA also highlights the opportunities provided by Hub locations, which are within commuting distances of these Gateways. In addition, IDA will promote other locations as part of its marketing efforts in response to specific client requirements and enquiries on an opportunistic basis. With the improved infrastructure now in place, a significant number of people commute within the North East Region, of which Dundalk is the Gateway, and IDA considers a project win in one town in the region to have a positive impact on the other surrounding areas due to the close proximity of all main locations.

IDA has 21 client companies in County Louth employing in the region of 1,500 people. So far this year there have been two job announcements for County Louth with the potential to create a further 1,200 jobs over the coming 3/4 years which will almost double the numbers employed in IDA client companies. In April, Diaceutics, an international business consulting and software application firm specialising in personalised medicine, announced the creation of 20 new jobs over 3 years in Dundalk, while in February, PayPal, the leading global online payments company, announced the creation of 1,000 jobs over the next four years at its new European Operations Centre also in Dundalk. This new Centre will open in July 2012.

This achievement by IDA in securing these investments has to be recognised as an enormous boost for the economy of the Region as a whole.

Table showing the number of IDA sponsored site visits by potential investors to

County Louth in each of the 3 years 2009, 2010 and 2011