Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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307. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs promoted by the Industrial Development Agency for which a salary is in excess of €150,000 per year. [40675/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Details of the number of jobs promoted by IDA Ireland by salary scale are set out in the attached tabular statement for the years 2007 to 2012.

IDA supports job creation where a company is making a new investment in Ireland. This includes new companies opening in Ireland for the first time or the expansion of an existing operation in Ireland. The job creation support focuses on the average salaries of total new jobs created in a company. Looking at the past 6 years (2007 – 2012), the agency did not support any jobs where the average salary was greater than €150,000 per year.

Table showing the salary scales of jobs created by IDA Client Companies for each of the years from 2007 to 2012

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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308. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs promoted by the Industrial Development Agency in customer care, international sales and research and development for each year since 2007. [40677/13]

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 Industrial Development agencies. Details of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs created in Customer Care and International Services by IDA Ireland Client Companies in the six year period from 2007 to 2012 inclusive are set out in the attached tabular statements.

I am informed by IDA Ireland that the Forfás Employment Survey tracks employment by NACE codes (pan-European classification system which groups organisations according to their business activities). Customer care and International sales jobs would most likely fall within the International Services code. The agency has also informed me that research and development is carried out by companies across all sectors.

Table showing the number of jobs created by IDA Ireland Client Companies in each of the years from 2007 to 2012

Table showing the number of jobs created by IDA Ireland Client Companies under the International Services NACE code in each of the years from 2007 to 2012

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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309. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs promoted by the Industrial Development Agency that require a foreign language to native speaker level for each year since 2007. [40678/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by IDA Ireland that they are unable to provide the number of jobs promoted that require foreign language skills at native speaker level as the Forfás Employment survey does not track the language skills of employees in individual companies. The Agency has explained that research undertaken by the Expert Group on Future Skills identifies foreign language skills as a key skill requirement for enterprise trade and export performance. This includes the foreign owned multinational sector. In some cases the requirement is for native language speakers, due to the nature of the job/function. In other cases, employees with high, but non-native, language proficiency are what is needed, particularly where other highly sought after skills are also required, such as engineering, ICT etc.

To underpin the overall development of the foreign owned multinational sector in Ireland, it is important that Ireland meets the requirements of its multinational client base for both native and non-native language skill requirements. IDA client companies primarily use Ireland as a base to service to the European and Asian markets. These companies understand the importance of proficiency in local market languages to successfully compete and sustain growth in a market. Language skills are particularly important for sales and marketing and HR staff but increasingly, FDI companies are seeking employees with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and maths that also have a proficiency in more than one language.

Ireland’s availability of skilled labour is one of the primary reasons cited by IDA clients for establishing their operations in Ireland. A scaling up in the supply of domestic foreign languages capability in second and in third level will enhance Irelands’ proposition for foreign direct investment.