Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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136. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the breakdown of the number of site visits hosted by IDA Ireland in counties Galway, Clare and Limerick to date in 2022, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56330/22]

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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137. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of new IDA Ireland jobs created in counties Clare, Kerry and Limerick in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56331/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 137 together.

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.

IDA has worked hard to create a welcoming environment for FDI in all parts of the country and the strong regional spread of jobs and investment in the latest IDA results demonstrates Government's commitment to regional development. Over half of FDI investments in 2021 went to regional locations. Regional development is at the centre of IDA’s current strategy: Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024, whereby IDA Ireland is targeting half of all investments from 2021- 2024 to regional locations.

IDA Ireland published their mid-year results in July and despite the challenging global environment, the results demonstrated significant additional foreign direct investment wins for the first half of 2022. In the first half of this year, investment levels have exceeded 2021 mid-year results by 9% and 2019 mid-year results by 10%. IDA Ireland won 155 investments up to the end of the second quarter this year. Notably, 73 of these new investments went to regional locations. These investments have an associated employment potential of over 18,000 jobs.

The number of new IDA jobs created in Counties Clare, Kerry and Limerick for 2020 and 2021 are available as part of the Department’s Annual Employment Survey which is published on the Department’s website at the following link: enterprise.gov.ie/en/publications/publication-files/annual-employment-survey-2021.pdf. The 2022 figures will be available at the end of the year.

In response to Covid, IDA migrated many of its business development and client engagement activities to digital platforms during 2020. The use of digital platforms by IDA staff has contributed to an enhanced digital engagement with existing clients and allowed the Agency to host e-site visits with potential new investors. As with in person visits, several locations can be marketed within an e-visit.

There were 16 in-person visits and 7 e-visits to Galway to Quarter 2, there were 10 in-person and 2 e-visits to Clare. The figures for Limerick are 15 in-person and 13 e-visits.

IDA Ireland will continue to work closely with existing clients to retain and strengthen their presence through continued company transformation as well as pursuing new areas of opportunity for client companies.