Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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176. To ask the Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment the number of employees in IDA supported businesses by county in tabular form in each of the years 2016 to 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27224/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment my focus is to lead our country through the economic crisis that has been caused by the pandemic to get our businesses open and our people back to work.

By the end of 2019, total employment in the IDA's client companies stood at over 245,000. Every region in Ireland has seen foreign direct investment-driven employment gains with over 138,000 people employed across 724 IDA client companies located outside of Dublin. 57% of all IDA client-supported jobs, in fact, are now located outside the capital.

Notwithstanding the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am confident that Ireland will remain attractive in the long-term to international investors. Our traditional strengths – including our talented workforce and pro-enterprise policy environment – remain very much intact and valued by overseas firms. I look forward to working, together with the IDA, to increase FDI here in the years ahead.

The following table outlines the total number of jobs in IDA Ireland client companies by county from 2016 to 2019. The employment figures for 2020 will not be available until publication of my Department's Annual Employment Survey in the first quarter of 2021.