Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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188. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will detail the future plans that the IDA has for County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39160/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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IDA’s current strategy, developed in the context of the Government’s National Economic Plan, identifies the opportunities for sustainable growth among IDA’s established base of clients through a focus on transformative investments to increase the productivity of Irish operations and their workforce through RD&I, digitisation, training, and actions on sustainability. It also maintains a focus on attracting the next generation of leading MNCs to locate in Ireland, further driving sustainable growth and maximising the impact of FDI in Ireland to 2024 and beyond.

Regional development is at the centre of the IDA’s new strategy. IDA is committed to the pursuit of more balanced, compact regional development which can deliver complementary efficiency and equity gains, with the overall impact of helping to advance national development.

During 2021, 249 investments were won, 104 of these were new name investments. Growth in Regions was particularly buoyant with over half of the 249 investments won going to regional locations.

IDA Ireland's results for 2021 showed that total employment in IDA client companies in Ireland now stands at 275,384, up 16,826 on 2020, the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) employment level ever. Employment growth was recorded in every region of the country, with the North-East Region showing 5% growth on the previous year. FDI performance has been particularly strong within the Engineering & Industrial Technologies, Medical Technologies, Technology, International Financial Services and Life Sciences sectors. There are 103 IDA client companies in the Mid-East Region, employing 18,894. 35 of these companies are in County Louth, directly employing over 4,588 people.

IDA Ireland recently announced that it has acquired two landbanks in Co Louth. The land acquisitions, with a combined total of 149 acres, situated at the townland of Killally, in Dundalk and Mell in Drogheda form part of IDA’s long term strategic plans to position Louth and the wider North-East region to compete for FDI investment.

Both sets of lands have been added to the IDA marketing database. A review is underway with respect to further servicing considerations and best positioning of the landbanks to potential FDI investment opportunities. With respect to lands in Drogheda, a concept review for an Advanced Building Solution is progressing.

The timely provision of appropriate, cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions to meet the needs of MNCs remains essential to winning Foreign Direct Investment. IDA’s regional property programme ensures the continued supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations to meet the needs of current and prospective clients. A robust property and infrastructure ecosystem can be the key differentiator in winning FDI projects. IDA Ireland is pleased to have acquired these two landbanks enhancing the offering in the North-East. Over the last five years, IDA’s Regional Property Programme enabled the winning of capital-intensive projects of significant scale to regional locations. IDA will continue to work with commercial property developers and Local Authorities to market other property solutions across all regions where they exist.