John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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574.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of site visits to each county over the past five years by the IDA, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32529/24]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Regional development is a key element of Government's enterprise policy, as set out in the White Paper on Enterprise, and is a key focus of the work of my Department and our Agencies. In that regard, IDA Ireland is committed to the pursuit of balanced, compact regional development and is targeting that at least half of all investments - that is 400 of 800 - from 2021 to 2024 to regional locations.

131 investments were won in the first half of 2024, 74 of which were secured across regional locations, representing 56% of all investments. This will enable the future delivery of 8,900 jobs to the economy against an increasingly challenging global operating environment

IDA has over 1,800 client companies within its portfolio employing 300,583 as at the end of 2023, with employment levels above 300,000 for the second consecutive year. Employment in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) companies now accounts for over 11% 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 20% of the workforce.

The total number of regional jobs now stands at 163,471 as at the end of 2023. The Midlands Region saw the strongest level of growth in 2023, up 5.8% on 2022 levels. There was also growth in the Border Region (up 2.7%) and Mid-West Region (up 2.6%) with the South-West and South-East Regions up by 1.2% and 1.4% respectively. Elsewhere, job numbers in IDA clients in the West Region was down by 1.8% whilst Dublin and the Mid-East Region declined by 1.2% and 4.8% respectively.

Investment by IDA Ireland through its Regional Property Programme aims to ensure the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations to remain competitive in attracting FDI to the regions. IDA Ireland continues to engage with current and prospective clients to promote Ireland as a location for their business and facilitates both virtual and in-person sites visits for companies. The use of digital platforms by IDA has contributed to an enhanced digital engagement with existing clients and in hosting e-visits with potential new investors.

The data on the number of visits to IDA sites by County since 2020 are set out below with figures reflecting both in-person and e-visits.

Note:Potential clients visiting Ireland may visit more than one county and may return to a location more than once. These figures represent individual visits and are therefore not indicative of the number of companies that have visited.

*visits to these counties include 3 one-to-many visits that took place during 2023.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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575.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of local enterprise office sponsored companies per county; the number of jobs in local enterprise office sponsored companies, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32530/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) undertake their annual employment survey in Q4 each year, these results are then reported to the Department and published the following January. In 2023 the LEOs financially assisted a portfolio of 7,167 small businesses, that account for 38,726 jobs across the country. This is the highest recorded number since the establishment of the LEOs and represents a 10th year of consecutive jobs growth. Last year saw LEO supported companies create 6,640 new jobs, with a net gain of 2,131 jobs, 82% of the new jobs created were located outside of Dublin.

In May this year, I launched the LEO Policy Statement 2024-2030, which, following the publication of the White Paper on Enterprise, outlines the future direction of the LEOs and an agreed approach on how their work will adapt to contribute to the implementation of five of the priorities of the White Paper on Enterprise – decarbonisation, digitalisation, increasing exporters, enabling the locally traded sector to thrive, and stepping up enterprise innovation.

The Policy Statement ensures the LEOs will continue to build on the success of the past 10 years, broadening their reach even further and identifies that over 370,000 businesses are eligible for some type of support from the LEOs.

The number of small businesses who were assisted by LEOs and the number of jobs supported by these businesses in 2023, are set out in the table below.