Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The number of people employed in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies supported by IDA Ireland in the years 2005, 2010 and 2015 is outlined in the attached table. The number employed in such companies experienced a relatively small dip during the recession but has now not only recovered but has reached the highest FDI employment levels in IDA Ireland’s history, with over 187,000 employed at the end of 2015. Our work in continuing to attract international investment in Ireland will be guided by both my Department’s strategies on Enterprise and Innovation and IDA Ireland’s own five-year strategy “Winning - Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019”. Other government departments also play a crucial role in delivering on complementary policy actions, such as the National Skills Strategy 2025, to provide an environment that is conducive to job creation and supports the development of a competitive and sustainable enterprise mix.

IDA is now working to challenging targets over the period 2015 to 2020, namely:

- to create 42,000 net additional jobs

- to win an additional 1,080 investment projects

- €3.6bn in RDI investment by overseas firms

In addition to promoting Ireland to first-time investors, IDA Ireland continues to work in partnership with its existing client base to explore additional investment opportunities, with 70% of all investment projects coming from already established companies who want to expand their presence here.

As part of the growth strategy, IDA Ireland is committed to increasing the level of investment into each region of Ireland by between 30% and 40% and is working as part of a team of stakeholders in each region under the eight Regional Action Plans published by my Department. A key support measure in achieving the ambitious targets for the regions is the significant IDA property investment programme announced in February 2015. This programme of investment will ensure that there is an adequate supply of first-class property solutions to attract investment.

Under the Global Sourcing Initiative, both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are working together to maximise the opportunity for greater sourcing of materials and services by multinationals from indigenous. Recently, I took part in a two-day Trade and Investment Mission to Athlone, Sligo and Limerick organised by the agencies to introduce innovative Irish SMEs to the global multinational base in Ireland and to maximise sales opportunities.

Number of IDA Ireland client companies and numbers employed 2005, 2010 & 2015*

*Statistics are gathered as part of the Annual Employment Survey carried out by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.