Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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69. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she has discussed with the IDA the reports that briefing documents within the IDA advised executives to underestimate rents here when in discussions with multinationals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50388/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government recognizes fully how important it is to increase the supply of affordable and quality housing. That is why significant resources have been invested into this area, including through the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan which includes financing measures, new construction and rental sector improvements. These steps will, first and foremost, ensure that people in Ireland are better able to buy and rent suitable homes. They will also serve to reinforce our national infrastructure in terms of its capacity to accommodate further foreign direct investment.

More broadly, it is important to bear in mind that international investors take a long-term view on where they choose to establish a presence. Investors also use a wide range of criteria to inform such decisions. Our traditional strengths are well known – including our talented workforce, membership of the EU and pro-enterprise policy environment – and these critical factors continue, as the healthy pipeline of investment here demonstrates, to make the country an attractive proposition to overseas firms.

We should not forget either that many of the States that we compete with for investment have challenges of their own – including in housing – when it comes to attracting overseas firms. So while we have infrastructural areas in this country that need further investment and improvement, we are not alone in facing that challenge.

IDA Ireland is fully seized of current housing market conditions in Ireland and recognises that this is an important issue for investors. I myself regularly engage with the IDA - as well as businesses themselves - about the enterprise climate in the country, including with respect to infrastructural issues. I understand that the Agency’s assessments of the housing market are based on a wide range of sources and a combination of indices, with the aim of forming the clearest possible picture of how Irish rents compare internationally. These information sources are continuously reviewed and contribute to briefings used by IDA staff. It should be remembered too that the overseas firms that the IDA targets to invest in Ireland – many of whom are large multinational companies with an existing presence here – form their own opinions on housing supply and other investment conditions here.

The briefing documents in question highlight a number of indices regarding the Irish property market. They include a 2018 Residential Tenancies Board figure on average rents in Dublin City. Another index, which was sourced from the Nestpick 2017 Furnished Apartment Index, set out an estimate of the costs of renting small furnished apartments across County Dublin in 2017. I understand that it was not suggested by the IDA that this Nestpick index was an authoritative figure for the entire Dublin property market. Similarly, I understands that the IDA has never advised its staff to underestimate average rents in Ireland to potential investors.