Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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588. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide a detailed description and breakdown of the expenditure by an organisation (details supplied) under Section 8(A) General Administration for its 2022 financial statements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39054/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A breakdown of the expenditure under Section 8A General Administration of IDA Ireland's 2022 Financial Statements is set out in the table below:

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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589. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide a detailed description on the types of campaigns, the consultancy agencies employed, the types of advertising undertaken, the specific media, and the amount paid to each and breakdown of expenditure for an organisation (details supplied) under Section 8(A) Marketing, consultancy, promotions and advertising for its 2022 financial; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39055/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The table below outlines a breakdown of expenditure under Section 8A of IDA Ireland’s 2022 Financial Statements as requested by the Deputy.

Of €11.7 million expenditure on marketing, consulting, advertising and promotions in 2022, €6.3 million covered advertising and promotions costs. This €6.3 million included digital marketing campaigns, international media partnerships, industry events, development and maintenance of the IDA website, public relations, design and content creation.

IDA Ireland’s engagements with suppliers is governed by strict compliance rules and the agency has framework agreements in place on media buying (Zenith, part of Core), creative advertising (BBDO), design (Allen Creative), web development (Continuum by Granite) and public relations in various jurisdictions, namely Europe (Finn Partners), East Coast US (Padilla), West Coast US (Kimber), Japan (Kyodo), India (Ad Factors) and China (BCW Public Relations). All payments over €20,000 are published on IDA Ireland’s website, alongside the supplier name, on a quarterly basis at .

IDA Ireland operates in a highly competitive market for international investment and as such, the details of campaigns are highly commercially sensitive, given they are an important competitive lever for the Agency and for Ireland in winning FDI. These investments, and the outcomes of campaigns, are reported to the IDA Board who have oversight of expenditure, however publishing this level of detail would compromise the Agency’s competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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590. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for a breakdown, in tabular form, of the location, project type/land or capital building and costs for an organisation (details supplied) associated with the regional property programme to provide current and prospective clients with the supply of land, buildings, and infrastructure in regional location from 2021 to current contained with annual financial statements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39056/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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IDA’s Property strategy sets out ambitious plans for the delivery of advanced building solutions in regional locations and key capital-intensive regional infrastructure to support the organisation’s strategy. The timely provision of appropriate, innovative and cost-effective property and infrastructure solutions that meet the needs of MNC’s at the forefront of the modern economy remain essential to winning FDI. In a challenging, competitive and uncertain global environment, IDA’s regional property programme ensures the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations as required by current and prospective clients of IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs. A robust property and infrastructure ecosystem can be the key differentiator in winning FDI projects, as evidenced by the record regional results achieved under IDA’s Winning 2015-2019 strategy and its current Strategy - Driving Recovery and Sustainable Growth 2021 - 2024.

Under its current strategy IDA is progressing delivery of 19 Advanced Building Solutions (ABS’s) to regional locations. IDA also partners with the private sector and Local Authorities to deliver buildings in key locations where appropriate. In addition, IDA is investing in significant infrastructure projects across the portfolio of Business and Technology Parks to upgrade and is maintaining these key assets in line with the evolving requirements of IDA and EI clients. IDA has maintained a focus on land banks and utility intensive strategic sites to future proof the ability of our property portfolio to support the project pipeline, most notably large-scale capital-intensive projects which can have significant regional and national economic impacts.

Capital investment on land acquisition, buildings, and infrastructure in 2021 and 2022 is detailed in the table below:

The significance of property to the winning of FDI particularly in regional locations is clearly demonstrated by investment wins from Gilead in Carrigtwohill, Almac, Wasdell, Wuxi Biologics and Irish Life in Dundalk, Regeneron, Eli Lilly & J&J in Limerick, State Street and Abbott in Kilkenny, Zoetis in Tullamore, and Enterprise Ireland Clients such as Kilkenny Cheese. Other successes to date in line with IDA’s Building programme include the investment or expected investment of companies such as Meissner in Castlebar, Vistakon in Limerick, Medtronic in Galway, Horizon Therapeutics, Eirgen, and Artesyn Biologics in Waterford.

In this context, continued investment in delivering advanced property solutions and infrastructure upgrades, in addition to further land acquisitions is critical to delivering on IDA’s and EI’s balanced regional development agenda.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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591. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will clarify whether key management personnel in an organisation (details supplied) consisting of the members of the Board, the chief executive officer, the executive directors, the divisional managers or management personnel receive compensation such as car allowances or get a car leased under their contractor of employment, health insurance, or any other applicable remuneration other than basic pay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39061/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland has confirmed to officials in my Department that thatkey management personnel consisting of the members of the Board, the chief executive officer, the executive directors, the divisional managers or management personnel do not receive compensation such as car allowances or get a car leased under their contractor of employment, health insurance or any other applicable remuneration other than basic pay.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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592. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if clarity could be provided regarding the way a new company pursues an application for a sports and culture visa (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39180/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Permits Section of the Department informs me that in order for an employer to meet the eligibility criteria for a Sport and Cultural Employment Permit, the following criteria must be fulfilled:-

• Applications will only be accepted from employers who are registered with the Revenue Commissioners and, if applicable, with the Companies Registration Office/Registry of Friendly Societies and which are currently trading in Ireland.
• An employer–employee relationship must exist in that the prospective employees concerned must be employed, salaried and paid directly by the employer.
• An Employment Permit will not issue unless at the time of the application 50% or more of the employees of the firm are EEA nationals.
• A Labour Market Needs Test is not required for a Sport and Cultural Employment Permit.

Further information in relation to Sport and Cultural Employment Permits is available on the Department’s website and can be accessed through this link:- Sport and Cultural Employment Permit - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie).

It should be noted that all employment permits granted are employer and employee specific and therefore cannot be transferred from one employer to another. From the details supplied it appears that the prospective employees currently hold Sport and Cultural Permits in respect of employment for another entity. In order for the persons concerned to enter employment with a new employer they will need to obtain new employment permits.

Permit holders employed in the State based on their first employment permit are expected to remain in that employment for a minimum period of 12 months from the commencement of the employment before considering applying for a new employment permit. This provision attempts to strike a reasonable balance between, on the one hand, the employer’s expectations that the individual will remain in his or her employment for a reasonable period given the costs involved in recruitment and, on the other hand, not unduly binding them to the employer. This is commonly referred to as the 12-month rule.

There are a number of exceptions to the 12-month rule. This includes redundancy, or where circumstances (unforeseen at the time of the application) arise in their employment that fundamentally changes the employment relationship (for example, the employer plans to change the location of the business to a site a significant distance from its current location, or the hours that s/he work are being significantly changed, or significant changes are being made to the nature of the work that they are required to do), an employment permit may be granted for an alternative, eligible job before 12 months have elapsed from the date the employment started. In cases where the 12-month rule would apply, documentation which demonstrates that such circumstances apply to the individual concerned would be required to be submitted with a subsequent application.

All permit holders are also required to notify this Department if their employment terminates within a period of 4 weeks from the date of cessation of the employment. Failure to do so is an offence under employment permit legislation.

Information is provided on the Department’s website in relation to employment permits including information on changing employer, latest developments and an FAQ document which answers the majority of the most common questions, all of which are available through this link - .