Written answers

Wednesday, 19 December 2018

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

IDA Ireland Site Visits

Photo of Niamh SmythNiamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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280. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of site visits conducted by the IDA in counties Cavan and Monaghan in each of the past five years; and the number of these visits that were to locations in the two county towns and other areas of the counties, respectively in tabular form. [53594/18]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland is working hard to promote Counties Cavan and Monaghan to potential investors. The Agency has a dedicated regional manager for the North East/North West Region and an office in the Cavan Innovation and Technology Centre. As part of its strategy to encourage investment in the area, the Agency is focusing, in particular, on new investors from key target sectors such as manufacturing.

The IDA also regularly engages with stakeholders on the ground in Cavan and Monaghan. This includes local authorities, the education sector and companies from both its own client base and the indigenous sector. IDA Ireland also owns sites in all three counties that are being actively marketed to its clients. As part of Budget 2019, I was pleased to announce an allocation of €10m for the next phase of the IDA’s Regional Property Programme to start building advanced facilities in a number of regional locations including Monaghan.

It is important to remember that foreign direct investment (FDI) forms only one part of the enterprise base in regional locations, such as Cavan and Monaghan. Indigenous business is responsible for a significant portion of employment growth, especially outside Dublin. My Department and all its agencies, including Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs, work together constantly to ensure that jobs and investment are spread as fairly as possible across the country.

As regards site visits, they do represent an important tool through which investors can be encouraged to invest in regional areas. However, the final decision as to where to invest always rests with the company concerned. It is also the case that site visit activity does not necessarily reflect investment potential, as almost 70% of all new FDI comes from existing IDA client companies.

Site visits are collated by the IDA on a county-by-county basis only and are released every quarter. Details on site visits to specific locations, such as towns or individual sites, is therefore unavailable.

The table below outlines the number of IDA site visits to Counties Cavan and Monaghan that have taken place from 2013 to Q3 2018.

County20132014201520162017Q1-Q3 2018
Cavan 210221
Monaghan 102211

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