Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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140. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on his meeting with technology companies in the USA. [8422/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Earlier this month I met with 14 of the leading technology companies with a presence in Ireland on the US West Coast. This provided a valuable opportunity for me to hear directly from enterprise leaders and to highlight Ireland’s strong Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) value proposition. I also met with a broad spectrum of over 60 business leaders on a wide range of topics, including Ireland’s economy, North-South relations and the impacts of Ukraine.

I came away reassured that, despite the recent job loss announcements, the impact on Ireland is relatively small and the tech sector remains very strong.

I know that the job losses announced are very difficult for the individuals concerned and we will provide every assistance we can to help those impacted to take advantage of other opportunities as demand for experienced tech staff is high across the economy and we have an equally supportive start-up eco-system.

IDA won 242 investments in 2022 for Ireland, 103 of which were new name investments. Importantly, 52% or 127 of the 242 investments won went to regional locations, with employment growth in every region of the country. Indeed, the numbers directly employed in IDA multinational clients in Ireland reach 301,475, the highest FDI employment level ever and a 9% increase on 2021. Last year saw an extra 24,000 jobs created in IDA companies and this success in attracting FDI and creating jobs is largely attributable to our pro-enterprise policy environment, highly educated English-speaking workforce and our membership of the European Union. I promote these valuable selling points on an ongoing basis through our regular trade missions and trade visits.