Peadar Tóibín
Question:200. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of early warning reports for foreign direct investment companies for each of the past five years. [44908/23]
View answerTuesday, 17 October 2023
Questions (200)
Written answers
The table below outlines the number of Early Warning Reports issued by IDA Ireland for each of the past five years 2018 – 2022 inclusive.
|
Year |
No of EWR Reports |
|
2018 |
33 |
|
2019 |
32 |
|
2020 |
142 |
|
2021 |
50 |
|
2022 |
68 |
Insofar as 2020 is concerned, it is important to note that that was the year when Covid-19 work restrictions were implemented.
The Early Warning System is a well-established process facilitated by IDA Ireland to alert and inform Government on a confidential basis of future potential decisions and actions by multi-national investors, when they are made known to the Agency, which may or may not result in headcount reductions in their Irish operations.
Such headcount reductions by companies can occur for a wide variety of international factors including:
• Corporate Restructurings and/or Reorganisations;
• Market Contractions;
• Financial performance;
• Geo-political events;
• Consumer/Customer responses or reactions;
The Early Warning Reports (EWRs) also highlight how IDA is working with the company in efforts to address the challenges the company is experiencing such that prospective job reductions may be lessened, where possible. Moreover, it is important to note that not all EWRs translate to job losses, and in some cases, the proposed number of job losses may be revised downward following statutory employee consultation periods.
IDA has close relationship with its portfolio of clients, which now stands at 1,796 companies directly employing 301,475 people, and these clients share sensitive information with the Agency on a confidential basis, and, for that reason, my Department does not disclose individual EWR details.
As noted above, 2020 saw a large increase in the number of EWRs which reflected the Covid-19 pandemic impacts. Furthermore, there has been a relatively modest contraction for some tech clients over the past 12 months, which is reflected in the 2022 data. In most cases, the level of job losses has been consistent with, or less than, the level of layoffs implemented elsewhere in their global organisations.
While any such job losses are, of course, very regrettable, the country is close to full employment with recent CSO data showing unemployment at 4.2% last month. Moreover, there is high demand for tech, marketing and other skills across all sectors, and there is a strong pipeline of new investments from overseas and within Ireland across a range of sectors where those being let go will, hopefully, secure alternative employment.
Finally, I should note that there have been over 60 IDA investment announcement this year alone, announcing over 6,500 new jobs.