Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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133. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on a survey (details supplied) and the way in which Ireland has fallen out of the top ten most attractive European countries as a location for foreign direct investment. [27323/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Improving Ireland’s competitiveness is a key priority for this Government.  We are working hard to consolidate this country's traditional strengths in terms of talent, productivity and export competitiveness.

The decline in Ireland's overall ranking in this year’s Ernst and Young (EY) attractiveness survey is disappointing. However, it is worth noting that despite the change in our ranking in this EY survey, the most recent Institute for Management Development (IMD) survey states that Ireland is the 12th most competitive economy in the world and the 3rd most competitive economy in the Euro area.  This is still a significant achievement especially when you consider that the UK is ranked 20th. The World Bank’s 2017 Ease of Doing Business Report shows Ireland is ranked 17th, an improvement of one place from the previous year.

It is also important to remember that a real indication of Ireland’s competitiveness is the increase in employment across sectors and regions. In this regard, the impressive performance of clients supported by the enterprise agencies in winning exports, market share and job creation in the face of intense global competition is to be commended.

The IDA has made significant progress in diversifying their portfolio of client companies and the overseas markets that offer sources of investments here.  There were 111 new name investments in 2017, an increase of 12% compared to 2016 which saw 99 new name investments.

The Government is nevertheless conscious of our need to remain as competitive as possible. We cannot become complacent in relation to the hard-won gains of recent years. I will be working hard with my colleagues across Government, in collaboration with the IDA, to help ensure that Ireland remains a competitive destination for FDI.