Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Retaining and strengthening Ireland’s reputation as a first-class destination for foreign direct investment remains fundamentally important to our economic model. The Government and IDA Ireland will continue to promote our country abroad, particularly in the face of international competition. Despite unprecedented challenges to Ireland’s economy in 2020, IDA Ireland’s end of year results for 2020 show that foreign direct investment was resilient even with the impact of COVID-19.

Ireland has a number of key strengths that continue to make us a highly attractive destination for FDI. These include our highly skilled workers, excellent education system and positive demographics. Our continued commitment to the European Union, the single market and Eurozone, as well as to free trade and multilateralism, are other key selling points that help us convince multinational companies to establish operations here.

I recognise that global competition for new investment is intensifying. IDA Ireland has recently published its new strategy Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024. The strategy prioritises regional development, building a sustainable enterprise base, driving productivity and increasing the spill-over effects from FDI to SMEs.

I am confident that we can build on our strengths and continue to attract the highest quality of investment to all parts of Ireland.