David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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98. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will report on the new Government Winning Abroad programme; the number of persons recruited under this scheme; the location of each of the executives; the amount made available to fund this initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37557/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In support of the Government’s jobs strategy and in particular the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs, IDA Ireland has commenced an exciting and innovative new programme over a 3 year period from 2014 to 2017 entitled Winning Abroad under the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2014.

Winning Abroad will market Ireland’s value proposition and its range of advantages as a location for inward investment to international companies across high value manufacturing, RD&I and global business services. The initiative’s target is to win an additional 10,000 jobs for Ireland.

In June, IDA Ireland advertised in the media for 35 Results Driven Global Business Development Executives. The newly recruited staff will be on contracts for a period of 3 years, to cover the lifetime of the programme. As with all job advertisements in IDA Ireland, there was a very strong response from the public. The intense process of screening and selecting the applicants with the visa requirements and the particular skills and competencies to represent Ireland in the overseas marketplace commenced thereafter. Roles are based in locations including Boston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Mountain View, Irvine, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney and Dublin. Funding for this initiative is provided through IDA Ireland’s budget allocation from the exchequer.

IDA Ireland recruited a Programme Manager to manage the process and since then 16 competitions have been completed with 6 staff recruited to date for global locations. By early November there will be 16 people recruited. Interviews are ongoing globally for the remaining positions which should see the Winning Abroad recruitment process concluded by the end of December.