Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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114. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of persons employed within IDA and Enterprise Ireland-backed companies in counties Longford and Westmeath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62126/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland works hard to create a welcoming environment for FDI in all parts of the country. The strong regional spread of jobs and investment in the latest IDA results demonstrates the Government's commitment to regional development. Over half of investments in 2021 and 2022 went to regional locations. Under the Government's Enterprise White Paper over half of all new inward investments to 2024 will be targeted to regional locations.

IDA Ireland reported strong annual results for 2022 on Monday 12 December with a substantial increase in growth in FDI employment on 2021, numbers are now at the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) employment level ever.

Growth in employment in 2022 brought the number of people employed in the FDI sector in Ireland to over 300,000. The results show continued substantial growth in FDI in 2022 despite a difficult global economic environment with 33,000 new jobs created in 2022.

Growth in regions continued with employment growth recorded in every region of the country. Strongest regional performance among IDA clients in 2022 was in the Mid-East region (net change 13.6%), followed by Dublin (10.8%) and the Midlands (9.7%).

There are 49 IDA client companies in the Midlands Region, employing 6,868 people.

In 2021, County Longford had 6 IDA client companies, employing 1,310. County Westmeath had 27 IDA client companies, employing 4,099.

Enterprise Ireland supports companies in every county of Ireland to start and scale, innovate, and remain competitive on international markets, now and in the future. The contribution of Enterprise Ireland client companies to the Irish economy is very important, particularly from a regional and county perspective.

The 5,000 plus manufacturing and internationally traded services companies that Enterprise Ireland works with are a critical source of existing employment and job creation in every county in Ireland and are spread across a wide range of sectors. In 2021, Enterprise Ireland supported companies employed 207,894 people. In addition, Enterprise Ireland supported companies sustained over 375,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide.

The Total Spend of Enterprise Ireland clients in the Irish economy across payroll and goods and services purchased, reached €29.406bn in 2020. This shows that Enterprise Ireland clients have impact in every county in Ireland.

In 2021, County Longford had 31 EI client companies, employing 2,262. County Westmeath had 80 EI client companies, employing 3,019.

Employment figures for both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland by county for 2022 will be available in January 2023.