Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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155. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide the full list of sites theIDA holds in its land bank; the locations of these sites; their size in hectares and current zoned status in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52988/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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2021 was a record-breaking year for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) employment, with total employment in IDA client companies now standing at 275,384, up over 29,000 on 2020. Growth outside of Dublin was particularly buoyant with 53%, that is 133 projects of the 249 investments won going to regional locations and employment growth was recorded in every region of the country.

IDA Ireland’s Regional Property Programme is aimed at supporting economic development and job creation across IDA’s, Enterprise Ireland and local LEO’s respective client base. IDA Ireland operates a dynamic portfolio of strategic land banks as the availability of an adequate supply of marketable, serviced land and office/industrial buildings is a key element in Ireland's ability to compete for mobile Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Many of these sites are developed over years or decades, and their long-term value crystallises when a corporation converts them to a new facility.

The availability of property solutions eliminates the lead times normally associated with acquiring property, enables clients to plan their property needs with a greater degree of certainty and allows for the commencement of projects at an earlier date by eliminating much of the difficulties associated with land acquisition, planning and construction. It is, therefore, an important means by which the IDA can encourage and attract new investors to Ireland, particularly to the regions.

The Regional Property Programme has enabled the winning of capital-intensive projects of significant scale to regional locations over the past 5 years. It is crucial that all parts of Ireland have a competitive, sustainable property offering to enable the attraction and retention of investment and jobs. IDA Ireland must therefore continue to have available sites and property on hand to remain competitive for FDI and to offer immediate availability for clients looking to invest.

The use of IDA Lands is restricted under legislation and any change to the use of the land would require ministerial consent / Government legislation. IDA leases lands to be used for manufacturing purposes and purposes ancillary thereto and/or for internationally traded services specified in the Industrial Development (Service Industries) Order 2010 (Statutory Instrument No SI 81/2010).

Despite the success of IDA Property Programme, the programme alone cannot meet the needs of enterprise across every region. Regular engagement and collaboration with stakeholders are important in positioning any regional location to attract FDI and in this respect IDA Ireland continues to engage with stakeholders in all regional locations to support jobs creation.

IDA also works closely with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the sites are fit for purpose and the supporting infrastructure, including housing, is in place in the wider regional ecosystem to promote regional locations for investment. It should be noted that IDA has shared its land portfolio with the Land Development Agency and shared its limited number of vacant buildings with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in response to a request about potential accommodation solutions in light of the war in Ukraine.

I am advised that in general terms IDA Ireland seek to have land in zoning categories including Industrial, Enterprise, Employment, General Industry, Office, Business/Technology Park, and related zoning. IDA Ireland also continues to enhance its land bank optimisation initiative through developing a disposal strategy for non-strategic lands.

The attached is a list of IDA’s land banks; the locations of these sites; their size in hectares in tabular form.