Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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97. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which he continues to promote, encourage and support investment leading to job creation in Ireland both in the FDI and indigenous sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62060/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy notes in his question, both the inward investment and the indigenous enterprise sectors play critical roles in job creation in Ireland.

In 2021, Enterprise Ireland-backed companies employed over 200,000 individuals across Ireland and directly invested €9.79 billion in the Irish economy in the form of wages and salaries.

IDA Ireland reported strong annual results for 2022 on Monday 12th December with a substantial increase in growth in FDI employment on 2021, numbers are now at the highest 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.

My Department, working with IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, continues to focus on promoting, encouraging and supporting investment from the FDI and indigenous sectors to support job creation.

With regard to the FDI sector, this Government and IDA Ireland recognise that competition for FDI is intensifying. Despite global challenges, FDI is well placed to remain a vital contributor to Ireland’s prosperity and future success. That is why this Government and IDA Ireland continue to strengthen Ireland’s value proposition to remain an attractive FDI destination. IDA Ireland continues to review its overall enterprise policy, which has been very successful to date, and will continue to constantly self-evaluate to make sure Ireland remains competitive and an attractive place in which to invest and create jobs.

With regard to the indigenous sector, Enterprise Ireland launched its new three-year strategy, ‘Leading In A Changing World’ 2022-2024, in January 2022. This strategy fully aligns with the Government's ambition to bring job opportunities and growth to all parts of Ireland increasing total employment to a record high of 2.5 million by 2024 with an ambitious target of creating 45,000 jobs over the next three years.