Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland's 2023 results announced on 15^thDecember last, showed 248 investments were won, with just under 19,000 associated jobs. 83 of these were new name investments from companies investing in Ireland for the very first time and 67 were expansions by companies already established here.

Total employment in IDA client-companies in 2023 remained over the 300,000 mark. Nevertheless, the 2023 figure of 300,583 is down by some 1,014 or 0.3%, when compared against the record highs of 2022 and such a result is reassuring in the context of the challenging international environment for FDI.

There were 132 regional investments with an associated jobs figure of 10,601, which is 53% of all projects and 56% of all jobs approved. IDA clients now employ 163,471 people regionally, which represents 54% of client employment.

In percentage terms, the strongest regional performance among IDA clients in 2023 has been in the Midlands Region, which is up by 6.5%, followed by the Border Region which is up by 3.8%. While in terms of actual job numbers, the strongest performance was found in the South-west, with over 1,000 net jobs gained. Dublin experienced a reduction of 1,046 and the Mid-West Region is down 982 – with both regions having a concentration of companies in the tech sector.

Employment in FDI companies now accounts for some 11.3% of the workforce. Additionally, my Department estimates that for every 10 jobs generated by FDI directly, another eight are created in the wider economy. This translates to over 540,000 direct and indirect jobs supported by FDI at the end of 2023 – almost 1/5th of the workforce.

The 2023 results reinforce the scale of the contribution of FDI to Ireland and the role that inward investment continues to play in providing jobs and opportunity for people right across the country, augmenting our home-grown enterprise community. While they are reassuring in the context of an increasingly challenging and competitive global environment for enterprise and for FDI, we are not complacent and Government recognises that Ireland must stay agile and ambitious to win investment as we pursue implementation of the policy mix articulated in the White Paper on Enterprise.

Finally, the number of IDA supported jobs by county, for 2023, is set out in the following table: