I propose to take Questions Nos. 395, 402 and 403 together.
IDA Ireland is the agency with statutory responsibility for the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ireland and its regions. The marketing of individual areas and towns for new or expansion FDI investments and jobs is a day-to-day operational matter for the agency. While I may give general policy directives to the agency, I am precluded under the Acts from giving directives regarding individual undertakings or from giving preference to one area over others.
Since the beginning of 2000 IDA Ireland has facilitated a total of twenty-two site visits by potential investors to the towns of Castlebar, Ballina and Claremorris. Details of these visits are set out in the following tabular statement. One of these site visits resulted in Fort Wayne Metals Ireland (FWMI) establishing in Castlebar Co. Mayo in 2002. The company is a subsidiary of privately owned Fort Wayne Metals, the leading manufacturer of guide-wire, which is headquartered in Indiana, USA. Fort Wayne currently employs approximately 30 people at its Castlebar facility. For reasons of commercial sensitivity it is not possible to disclose the investment involved in the project.
In line with the National Spatial Strategy, IDA Ireland is committed to the achievement of balanced regional development and seeks to attract Foreign Direct Investment into the gateway and hubs as well as a small number of additional locations. In Mayo, the Agency is concentrating on the linked hubs of Ballina and Castlebar and on Westport. IDA Ireland has advised me that they are actively working towards maximizing the level of high value sustainable FDI employment opportunities in Mayo and in the West region by investing in the provision of focused property solutions to support this objective. Specifically, IDA Ireland is developing world class Business and Technology Parks in a number of towns throughout Mayo. IDA Ireland's sectoral emphasis is on attracting new knowledge intensive projects in the Medical Technologies, Life Sciences, Information Communications and Technology and International Services sectors. In addition the agency is also actively working with the existing base of overseas companies in Mayo to encourage them to grow and expand.
The decision regarding where to locate is ultimately up to the individual investor and clients looking at Ireland are often only willing to consider larger centres that have the scale, infrastructure and services capable of sustaining their investment. However, the agency is optimistic in regard to job creation in Mayo from new and expansion projects in 2006. Such projects not only bring high wage jobs but also have knock-on benefits in other sectors such as supply, distribution and transport, thus creating further investment/employment opportunities for local people in the immediate vicinity and surrounding areas.
Number of Site visits in each of the years 2000 to 2005
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
Castlebar
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
5
|
1
|
Ballina
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
Claremorris
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|