Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

186. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of his recent trade mission to the United States of America; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41430/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Foreign direct investment is at the heart of this Government’s Action Plan for Jobs. Since we took office, multinational companies have added more than 18,000 direct jobs in Ireland, which has had a significant knock-on effect on employment across the country. Our aim is to deepen and broaden that impact even further to create and maintain even more jobs.

American investment is crucial to Ireland’s economic success. The US is the greatest source of FDI in Ireland, accounting for over 70% of all FDI currently in Ireland.Approximately 630 corporations employ 125,000 directly in a broad range of sectors such as information technology, biopharma, medical technology and financial services. Ireland is the number one export platform for US companies. IDA Ireland client companies export 60% of everything they produce to other European countries. It is as a result of all of this that US companies contribute greatly to the strategic regional focus of IDA Ireland.

I visited the East Coast of the US (New York and Boston) on a trade mission from Monday 26^thOctober to Friday 30^thOctober 2015 and was accompanied by the CEO of IDA Ireland, Mr. Martin Shanahan.

My schedule included twelve individual meetings with IDA Ireland-client companies in the New York and Boston area. These meetings provided me with an opportunity to engage directly with companies promoting Ireland as a location for investment across a wide range of fields, from research and development to manufacturing to business services. Meetings took place with CEOs and executives at senior level in both existing and key target clients.

I also attended two breakfast meetings organised by IDA Ireland, which were attended by clients from the emerging, technology, financial services and life science sectors.

Ireland scores highly in global business rankings and continues to attract companies from a variety of sectors including ICT, life sciences, financial services, engineering, digital media, games and social media. Ireland has a rich history of achievements in Science & Technology and continues to invest in its research and technology capabilities.

Ireland’s success in attracting foreign direct investment requires a clear focus on improving and enhancing the national competitive environment, easing the impediments to business investment and encouraging job creation. Targeting of specific growth sectors and business models, increased competitiveness and an improved international reputation are key factors that contributed to the strong results in recent years, all of which must be maintained in the future.