Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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1188. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of site visits by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland in the Kells local enterprise area, County Meath, since the advent of the new regional aid guidelines with grants for employment and capital support in Kells; the nature of the advertising and marketing campaign to attract jobs and investment to Kells following on from the revised regional aid guidelines; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10481/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Since the 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines under EU State Aid rules entered into force, IDA Ireland is able to support large companies (those which employ over 250 employees globally) to invest and expand in the Local Electoral Area of Kells through capital and employment incentives. Under these EU rules, this is the only part of Meath where IDA Ireland can provide this type of support to such companies. In addition to this support, IDA Ireland can also provide grants for research, development and innovation, as well as for upskilling staff. These grants can be provided to companies elsewhere in Meath as well as in Kells. SMEs can also be supported to set up and expand throughout Meath, facilitated by Enterprise Ireland and the Meath Local Enterprise Office.

In 2015, there were 1,571 IDA Ireland-supported jobs in Meath, up from 1,552 in 2014. There were 6,855 Enterprise Ireland–supported jobs in the county for the same year, which was a net increase of 387 from 2014.

IDA Ireland markets Meath as part of its Mid-East region, along with Kildare and Wicklow. There were nine IDA Ireland-sponsored site visits to the county in the last two years. For reasons of client confidentiality and commercial sensitivity IDA Ireland does not comment on site visits by individual companies or on site visits to specific locations. As Enterprise Ireland’s core focus is supporting the internationalisation of indigenous companies, it does not arrange site visits of a type similar to IDA Ireland.

Already this year, two large investments in Meath have been announced by client companies. In April, Facebook announced the construction of the company’s newest data centre in Clonee. In the same month Shire plc announced plans to expand its global biotechnology manufacturing capacity with the creation of 400 jobs in Piercetown.

In 2014, there were a number of smaller announcements for Kells, through the combined efforts of Connect Ireland and IDA Ireland, with the creation of 50 jobs.