Proinsias De Rossa
Question:69 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Finance the estimated level of profit repatriation by multinational firms during the current year; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Profit Repatriation.
Separate data are not available for profit repatriations by multinational firms. They are included in the debit entry for "Profits, dividends and royalties etc." in the balance of international payments statement published by the CSO. Published data are available for the first half of this year, which show that gross outflows of profits, dividends and royalties amounted to £1,008 million in that period.
I have already made a statement regarding these types of outflow in my written reply to a similar question by Deputy Jim Higgins, No. 36 of 10 May 1990. I therefore repeat my statement of that time, updated as appropriate.
These outflows, to the extent that they relate to industry, should be seen in the context of the sector's turnover, which last year amounted to around £18 billion, and of industrial exports, which amounted to almost £12 billion in 1989 and almost £6 billion in the first six months of this year. The level of profit repatriations in the first half of this year was against a background of increases of around 10.7 per cent in the volume of manufactured exports and of almost 5 per cent in manufactured output compared with the same period last year. Reflecting this performance, and also the cumulative benefits of strong growth and improved competitiveness in recent years, average quarterly employment in manufacturing increased by 2.3 per cent in 1989 — the first such increase since 1980; in the first half of this year there was a further increase of 3.6 per cent, compared to the average of the first two quarters of 1989. The ability to repatriate the profits earned by their Irish subsidiaries is an important factor in attracting foreign firms to locate here.
The importance of such firms is illustrated by the fact that in 1987, the last year for which detailed statistics are available, foreign-owned enterprises accounted for 43 per cent of manufacturing employment. IDA data indicate that in 1989 foreign industry created 8,400 new jobs, bringing their total employment to 89,000 people; in 1988 they purchased £2.8 billion worth of goods and services in Ireland and in the period 1983 to 1989 their grant-aided investment in Ireland amounted to £1.3 billion.