Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the way in which the previously announced plan to double Irish representation abroad will impact agencies under her remit, namely Enterprise Ireland and the IDA; the number of extra staff envisaged; and when this plan will be available. [43036/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Given my Department’s responsibility for growing and internationalising business, we will actively contribute to developing a plan to deliver on our ambition to double our global footprint.

IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland already have significant presence in overseas markets which has delivered results over many years. Both are keen to deepen and strengthen that presence to maximise opportunities for Irish business by;

- Increasing the number of Irish companies that export, increasing the number of markets served by Irish exports and increasing the value of total exports. A feature of the challenge of Brexit is that we must further diversify our exports so as to reduce our dependence on the UK market.

- Increasing foreign direct investment from both mature markets, which are already a valuable source of FDI, and diversification into new markets, for example into those markets that would traditionally turn to the UK as the location of choice from which to service the EU market.

We should also acknowledge that expansion of the Agency Overseas Office Networks will also require investment in the Agencies at home.

- To build the pipeline of companies capable of exporting to these markets in the case of EI; and

- To service FDI client visits to Ireland, win investments and ensure job retention, in the case of IDA.

The rewards for the hard work of our agencies at home and abroad are great. In January 2017, Enterprise Ireland published its strategy for the period 2017-2020. The strategy was developed in the context of Brexit and focuses on supporting clients to both Build Scale and Expand Reach. The strategy sets ambitious targets out to 2020 including:

- Sustain and grow jobs in Enterprise Ireland client companies by 60,000 over a four year period bringing the total employment to 220,000

- Grow exports by €5 billion to €26 billion

- 50% growth in exports outside the UK

- Increasing the annual total spend in the Irish economy by Enterprise Ireland clients to €27bn

- Create 80,000 new jobs (an increase of 29% on the 2010 to 2014 target)

- Win 900 investments (an increase of over 40% over the 2010 to 2014 target)

- IDA has committed itself to increase the level of investments in each region by between 30% and 40%  during the lifetime of the strategy

- Cumlative spend of €3bn in R&D investments

- Total of 209,000 to be employed directly in overseas companies by 2019

- Portfolio of overseas companies 1,350 (up 13% from current base of 1,195)

- Target an increase of 20% in Irish Economy expenditure by overseas companies  from €22.4bn in 2013 to €26.8bn by 2019

- €150m property investment programme spread over the 5 year period to attract FDI into the Regions

- A 50% increase in direct annual R&D spend by Enterprise Ireland clients to €1.275bn

IDA Ireland has also undertaken an ambitious strategy. Their strategy, Winning: Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019,includes the following targets:

Our national trade strategy, Ireland Connected, sets out a strong and effective strategy for communication and co-ordination of Irish resources overseas – it is essential that to ensure delivery in all our markets that Departments and Agencies have clearly defined and complementary roles, relationships and milestones to ensure maximum success.

Therefore, we need a fully coordinated approach across Government Departments and Agencies to develop and implement the plan to deliver this. The agencies and my Department are members of the Global Footprint 2025 Steering Group which is Chaired by An Taoiseach’s office. The goal of the Global Footprint Initiative is to double Ireland’s global footprint by 2025. This expansion will help drive efforts to diversify and increase trade, including in the wake of Brexit. The project will require an ambitious whole-of-Government approach, engaging actors across the system, to develop a comprehensive plan. To that end the Taoiseach has written to the Ministers asking them to develop a clear plan for doubling our presence overseas by 2025.