Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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43. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the regional IDA site visits in addition to vacant IDA properties nationwide to the end of 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16814/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland’s primary regional development goal, as set out in its current strategy, is to increase investment by 30% to 40% in every region of Ireland. Real progress has been made towards that target over the first three years of this strategy, with half of all jobs created by IDA client companies since 2015 based outside Dublin.

Site visits do represent an important tool through which investors can be encouraged to invest in regional areas and the IDA always does its utmost to ensure that investors consider all potential locations when visiting Ireland. The Agency's staff will continue to bring potential sites, that are located outside the city's main urban areas, to the attention of prospective investors in 2018.

Ensuring that there are properties available for potential multinational investors is also key to increasing regional investment. If there were no available properties in the regions, IDA-owned or otherwise, it would significantly diminish the Agency’s capacity to attract and win new investments there. That is why the IDA tries to ensure that there is always a supply of suitable properties that can be matched with new or expanding investors.  

Table (A) outlines the number of site visits by county in 2017 and Table (B) outlines the number of IDA owned properties available for marketing.

Table (A) Site Visits by County 2017

Table (B) IDA Owned Properties Available for Marketing