Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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130. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for a full update on the IDA business building, Dublin Road, Carlow; the number of site visits that have taken place in the past 12 months; and the efforts made by the IDA to secure a permanent tenant at the site. [64125/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Regional Development is a key focus of our Programme for Government and is central to the work of my Department and our enterprise development agencies. In this regard, IDA Ireland’s strategy ‘Adapt Intelligently, 2025 – 2029’ seeks to build on IDA’s successes to date and to support continued long-term investment through the transformation of the existing client base across Ireland and leveraging new opportunities and sectors.

Over the current strategy period, IDA is aiming to secure 550 of a total 1000 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects outside Dublin - 55% of all planned investments, with ambitious targets for the investments every region in Ireland, including 60 in the South-East region.

The South-East has a significant ecosystem of well-established companies across Technology, Life Sciences, International Financial Services, Engineering & Industrial Technologies, which are complemented by research centres that help win new business and assist existing client companies with transformation. The FDI performance in the region has been strong over the past five years with employment among IDA clients increasing by 15%.

IDA’s continued positive intervention in terms of delivering and maintaining a portfolio of advanced property solutions, to complement private sector provision, to support investments on a regional basis is paramount. A robust property and infrastructure ecosystem can be the key differentiator in winning FDI projects. In that regard, IDA continues to actively manage its property portfolio to ensure the availability of suitable sites for enterprise development. The IDA Regional Property Programme ensures the supply of land, buildings and essential infrastructure in regional locations as required by current and prospective clients of IDA as well as those of Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices.

IDA Ireland continually engages with key stakeholders such as infrastructure, service providers and Local Authorities, including Carlow County Council and other regional stakeholders to ensure the identification of lands that are suitable for client investment in the long term. IDA also works closely with the private sector in the South East region in marketing of appropriate and cost-effective property solutions that meet the needs of its client companies.

The IDA made a significant investment in Carlow during their last strategy, 2021-2024, with the completion of an Advanced Business Solution (ABS) on the IDA Carlow Business Park which is actively being marketed as a property solution to FDI and EI clients. While there was one site visit to the Carlow ABS by a client company in the last twelve months, there have been numerous enquiries made, and several visits to the building have taken place as part of marketing efforts. Full details of the Carlow ABS are included in IDA’s digital marketing materials shared with IDA’s overseas colleagues and client companies.

There continues to be good interest in companies visiting Carlow. There has been a consistent increase in visits since 2022. Details of site visits to Carlow up to the end of September 2025 are shown in the table below:

I should point out that site visits are one measure only of a company’s interest in a particular location and may not necessarily be a true measure of the overall level of foreign direct investment (FDI) activity in a region or county. For example, almost 70% of FDI won by IDA Ireland comes from its existing client base, rather than new companies and potential clients usually visit more than one county and may return to a location more than once.

With a clear focus on regional development, a strong pipeline of investment, and collaborative local partnerships, IDA Ireland is positioning Carlow and the wider the South-East Region as a competitive and attractive destination for global investors, however, ultimately, individual companies determine where to locate their investments rather than the IDA.