Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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321. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which foreign direct investment has resulted in job creation in each of the past five years to date; his projections in this regard for the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19001/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Forfás Annual Employment Survey reports on job gains and losses in companies that are supported by the enterprise development agencies. Details of total employment and the number of new jobs created in IDA Ireland client companies in each year from 2008 to 2012 are set out in the tabular statement.

2012 saw a strong performance in the level of foreign direct investment (FDI) won by Ireland with 12,722 new jobs being created in IDA client companies. This also represents a significant achievement in terms of reaching the target of 12,500 new jobs set in the Government’s 2012 Action Plan for Jobs. IDA Ireland has indicated that the gains made spanned a range of sectors, with particularly strong performances from social/digital media, IT, financial services and life sciences.

IDA Ireland’s concentration on attracting employment intensive services to Ireland is leading to the speedy creation of jobs. A significant proportion of investments in 2012 was in the area of services operations, particularly serving the Europe, Middle East and Asia Market. A notable feature of 2012 was the wide range of green field investments coming to Ireland. In total, there were 145 individual investments, of which 66 (over 40%) were from companies coming to Ireland for the first time.

In recent years IDA Ireland has established a presence in high growth markets, such as China and India, and remains committed to the goal of securing 20% of all greenfield investments from high growth markets by 2014. The Agency has also broadened and deepened its portfolio, by including not just large multinational corporations (MNCs) but also working closely with “fast growth” companies, who aspire to be the MNCs of the future. This strategy was successfully implemented in 2012 with a range of fast growing companies announcing that they had decided to invest in Ireland.

While the global outlook for FDI continues to be challenging, IDA has assured me that it will continue to work towards achieving its target of creating a further 12,000 jobs this year as set out in the Action Plan for Jobs 2013.

Table showing Total Employment and New Jobs Created in IDA Ireland

Client Companies from 2008 to 2012