Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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157. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which foreign direct investment continues at pace; if any particular issues have arisen which might require an early response; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9449/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland continues to be a location of choice for new investors and long-established companies who choose to reinvest in substantial expansions of their operations here. IDA Ireland’s record annual results for 2022 demonstrate a strong flow of FDI into Ireland, with 242 investments won last year. Of the new investments, 52% went to regional locations and employment growth was gained in every region of the country. The numbers directly employed in IDA multinational clients in Ireland reached 301,475, the highest FDI employment level ever and a 9% increase on 2021.

These achievements demonstrate not only the resilience of the FDI sector in Ireland, but also Ireland’s stable and attractive business environment which enables global companies to successfully scale and grow within Ireland. Half of the multinationals located in Ireland have been here for 10 years or more, while one-third have been in Ireland for 20 years or more.

Notably, these results were all achieved within a challenging environment with factors such as rising energy costs, climate change, rising inflation, Russia’s war against Ukraine and increased international competition for FDI creating uncertainty for governments and businesses globally.

Within this challenging and uncertain global environment, my Department will continue to work alongside IDA Ireland to strengthen Ireland’s business environment and our FDI value proposition, which includes our pro-enterprise policy environment, highly educated English-speaking workforce and our membership of the European Union.

The White Paper on Enterprise recently published by my Department sets the strategic direction for job-creation and growth for the years ahead, addressing changes in the international trading environment, vulnerabilities in our enterprise sector, and the need to integrate climate change commitments and the digital transition into enterprise policy over the decade ahead. My Department is working with IDA on Government’s strategic objectives on decarbonisation, technological change and regional potential.

These steps will enable us to address and respond to the challenges and obstacles emerging from our changing global environment.