Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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24. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on whether regional development goals are receiving adequate attention from the Industrial Development Agency Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12162/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The IDA Ireland Strategy for the period 2010 to 2014, “Horizon 2020”, set an ambitious regional economic development target of 50% of investments in regions outside Dublin and Cork and this has proven to be a challenge. There are many complex factors influencing investor location decision-making such as the increasing preference of investors globally for cities of scale with 1 million plus population, significant challenges from lower cost locations in the UK and Eastern Europe and attractive regional aid.

IDA Ireland’s target of 50% of investments outside Dublin and Cork was ambitious. The result for 2013 at 30% is ahead of the outcome of 25% in 2012 indicating a positive trend in terms of new investment in the Regions. I should point out that during the period 2010 to 2013, 35% of all FDI announcements related to locations outside of Dublin and Cork while 40% of all IDA Ireland sponsored site visits by potential investors were to locations outside of Dublin and Cork. Furthermore, 72,500 people, roughly 44% of the total employment in IDA Ireland’s base of companies, including those that were former clients of Shannon Development, are located outside of Dublin and Cork.

It must also be acknowledged that some locations outside of Dublin and the main urban centres already facilitate the presence of a large number of multinational companies who have invested over the years, span multiple sectors and employ significant amounts of people. The primary opportunity for regional locations is in respect of the existing client base and potential further investment opportunities from same. Approximately 70% of all FDI investments won by IDA Ireland is from the existing client base. Indeed during 2013, there were some very big announcements in regional locations such as Dundalk, Limerick and Waterford.

In order to achieve regional economic development, IDA prioritises the marketing of Gateway locations within each Region as the locations of critical mass and highlights the opportunities provided by Hub locations which are within commuting distances of these Gateways. During 2012, as part of its marketing activities, IDA Ireland began an online marketing initiative, “Connect & Invest”, to showcase the unique attributes of each region to international clients. A key component of a Gateway Economic Region’s value proposition are the existing industry clusters which originated with the arrival of several large multinational companies through the support of IDA Ireland and which, in turn, create the development of an indigenous sub-supply base assisted, in some cases, by Enterprise Ireland. A number of these Irish-owned companies, particularly in the Life Sciences Sector, have since become significant international players in their own right. These clusters are primarily located in Gateway locations.

Under the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are working with my Department to develop a framework for a Regional Enterprise Strategy to better integrate the efforts of enterprise agencies and the other regional stakeholders in building enterprise based on sustainable competitive advantage of the region. This exercise will complement the in-depth analysis of our FDI strategy which is currently being undertaken by Forfás and which will take account of factors such as key trends emerging in FDI best practice internationally, Ireland’s strengths in attracting FDI and any changes to the EU’s State Aid Rules, which will come into effect on 1 July 2014. The results of these two exercises will form the basis of IDA Ireland’s strategy from 2015 onwards.