Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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47. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will seek an update on the provision of an advanced building solution in Drogheda's new IDA landbank; if he will seek a technical brief on the proposed development; the expected timelines for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48724/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In 2021 IDA Ireland acquired a new landbank at the Mell in Drogheda, Co Louth. This landbank will form part of IDA’s long term strategic plans to position Drogheda and the wider Mid-East region to compete for FDI investment.

Since acquiring the landbank IDA has undertaken an infrastructure review with respect to servicing considerations and how to best position the landbank to potential FDI investment opportunities.

IDA is committed to building an advanced building solution on the new lands. This building project is at concept review stage. A multi-disciplinary design team has been appointed by IDA and this review is ongoing and progressing well.

The timely provision of appropriate, cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions to meet the needs of MNCs remains essential to winning Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). 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 Mid-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.”

The FDI performance in the Mid-East Region, which comprises counties Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow, has been strong over the past five years with employment growing among IDA clients within the Engineering & Industrial Technologies, Medical Technologies, Technology, International Financial Services and Life Sciences sectors. There are 103 IDA Ireland client companies in the Mid-East Region employing 18,894 people directly and an additional 15,115 indirect jobs supported. IDA Ireland client employment in the region grew by 5% in 2021 with an additional 933 net jobs created. In recent years, IDA Ireland supported companies including WUXI, Wasdell, Almac, PCI Pharma Services, Amazon Web Services and Simply NUC who have announced investments and expansions for Co. Louth which have driven the demand for property solutions.