Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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321. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs supported by the Industrial Development Agency Ireland on 31 December 2014; on 30 September 2015, by county; the Agency's strategy to ensure an equitable distribution of visits among counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34684/15]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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322. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs supported by the Industrial Development Agency Ireland on 31 December 2013; 31 December 2014; 30 September 2015, in the Dublin region, by local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34685/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 321 and 322 together.

I am informed by IDA Ireland that it does not track employment data on a local authority basis. Employment data is tracked at a county and regional level through the Annual Employment Survey. The figures for the number of IDA Ireland-supported jobs in 2015 will not be available until early next year after the completion of the 2015 Employment Survey. The number of IDA Ireland-supported jobs in 2013 was 167,357 and rose to 174,488 in 2014. The figures for both years on a county basis are set out in the attached tabular statement.

Earlier this year, IDA Ireland launched its new strategy for the next five years entitled ‘Winning – Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019’. The strategy sets out the IDA’s commitment to achieve a significant increase in the amount of FDI projects going into regions and outlines strategic actions aimed at achieving that, including a €150m property investment plan spread out over five years, which will support the achievement of the organisation's regional goals.

The funding will be used to upgrade Ireland's business and technology parks, make investments in a number of strategic utility-intensive sites and build new advanced technology buildings in a number of regional locations.

Regional development is a major component of IDA Ireland’s new corporate strategy. For the first time ambitious investment targets have been set for each region, with a strong focus on securing a significant increase in the number of investments. Central to this is a strong ambition for employment growth throughout all regions over the lifetime of the strategy.

IDA Ireland has a long and credible track record of presenting potential investors with the best location options throughout Ireland for each client. The agency actively incentivises and encourages investors to consider a range of potential locations in Ireland, however, the ultimate locations selected are always decided by its clients and not by IDA Ireland.

Table of Total IDA Ireland Jobs by County 2013 and 2014 as per the Annual Employment Survey 2014.