Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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116. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide a report on the implementation in the midlands region of IDA Ireland’s 2021-2024 strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62111/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I was pleased to join the IDA Chairman and Interim CEO on 12th December for the launch of their strong annual employment results for 2022, with the announcement of a substantial increase in growth in FDI employment on 2021. The numbers employed in IDA clients are now at the highest level ever.

The 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 over 2022 despite a difficult global economic environment with 33,000 new jobs created.

Job losses, which were at historically low levels in recent years, increased in the latter half of 2022 as some tech companies sought to reduce costs and employee numbers in line with reduced revenue forecasts and weakening company valuations. These layoffs, proportionate to the size of the overall portfolio, resulted in less net employment growth this year, giving a net increase of just over 24,000 jobs year on year.

There was 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%).

The strong growth in regional investment was supported by IDA Ireland’s property programme. We know a robust property and infrastructure ecosystem to be a key differentiator in winning FDI projects. IDA is making considerable investments in land, buildings and infrastructure across the Midlands regions during the lifetime of the current strategy. IDA Ireland announced in October 2022 it has acquired 44 acres of land adjacent to the Business and Technology Park in Portlaoise. The land currently available on the Business and Technology Park in Portlaoise is 17 acres.

There are 49 IDA client companies in the Midlands Region, employing 6,868 people. The FDI performance in the region has been consistent over the past five years with employment among IDA clients increasing significantly over that time. The region has an impressive range of companies across all industry sectors, with particular strengths in Life Sciences, Technology, Global Business Services, International Financial Services, and Engineering & Industrial Technologies. The existing FDI base of client companies in the region continues to perform well in terms of their operational sustainability, job retention and ongoing transformation.

The Midlands region has been performing very well over the last number of years, with consistent employment growth across all sectors. IDA’s regional team enjoys close working relationships with all key stakeholders across the 4 counties and is heavily involved in a significant number of initiatives across the region to improve the value proposition for FDI – Just Transition, Midlands Regional Enterprise Plan Steering Committee, ICT Cluster Steering Committee, Skills Forum, and the Industry Forum.

IDA’s focus over the coming years is to build on the strengths and competencies of the region with a particular focus on high value manufacturing, services and research and development opportunities across a number of established clusters in Life Sciences, Technology, and Global Business Services. Emerging technology trends have and will continue to create new opportunities across the region in areas such as data analytics, smart manufacturing, cybersecurity and new approaches to working such as home working and hub working.

The 2022 figures continue the pattern of sustained growth in FDI investment and FDI-related employment that has been achieved over a continuous period of more than ten-years. However, we are time of serious global challenges and uncertainties. The global economy faces serious headwinds in 2023 with the outlook dependent on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, inflation, monetary policy and geo-political developments.

In addition to the high-level results announced yesterday, a more detailed analytical report, with results split by ownership, region, county and sector, will follow in January 2023.