Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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253. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the total number of investments announced by the Industrial Development Agency Ireland in each year since 2011; the number of those investments which proceeded; the number of those that have not; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1187/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In the period 2011 to 2014 there have been a total of 653 investments approved by IDA Ireland, of which less than half, approximately 300, have been publicly announced. For a variety of reasons many companies do not wish for any publicity surrounding a proposed investment. The number of investments approved in each individual year from 2011 to 2014 is set out in the attached tabular statement. It should be noted that the number of investments approved has risen from 148 in 2011 to 197 in 2014.

It is important to point out that there is often a time lag, in the region of 3 to 5 years, between an announcement of an investment and the coming on stream of that project. That time is required for such activities as locating and acquiring a suitable site for the company’s operations, constructing a facility, installing machinery and the recruitment and training of suitable staff. Given these factors it is not possible to give an accurate figure for the number of projects which proceed and which do not proceed.

The level of investments coming on stream is best measured by the number of new jobs created in any given year as recorded in the Forfas Annual Employment Survey, which tracks the jobs gained and lost in companies that are supported by enterprise development agencies. Preliminary results from that survey show that in 2014 client companies of IDA Ireland created a total of 15,012 gross new jobs. When job losses are taken into account the survey shows that 7,131 net jobs were created during 2014 as opposed to 5,595 in 2011. There are now 174,488 people employed in IDA client companies, the highest figure on record.

Table showing the number of IDA investment approved in each of the years 2011 to 2014 inclusive