Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 July 2012
293 Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his job creation plans for County Meath; his further views on IDA’s Ireland performance in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36186/12]
View answerBoth IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are autonomous agencies with statutory obligations to, in the case of IDA Ireland, attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to this country and its regions and, in the case of Enterprise Ireland, to develop indigenous industry and to secure opportunities for those industries in international markets and thereby increase employment in this country.
There are 16 IDA Ireland client companies in Co. Meath employing approximately 1,300 people while 172 Enterprise Ireland client companies employ 5,120 people in that county.
The Government's Action Plan for Jobs has set a target of supporting the creation of 100,000 net new jobs over the period 2012 to 2016, with the longer term objective of having 2 million people at work by 2020. The Action Plan contains 270 measures for delivery across all Government Departments and 36 agencies which will support job creation in this and future years. While specific job targets have not been set for individual locations, the enterprise development agencies under the aegis of my Department are working closely with one another and with other state agencies to deliver the job creation targets which have been set.
2011 saw a strong performance in the level of FDI won by Ireland. IDA client companies created over 13,000 new jobs in 2011, up 20% on the previous year. There was an overall increase of 17% in the number of investments from IDA client companies in 2011 and, despite the current global economic situation and a strong increase in international competition, there was a record number of 148 new investments won during the year across all industry segments. Of the 148 FDI investments made in 2011, a record number of 61 were from multinational companies investing in Ireland for the first time (an increase of 30%) while 87 were made by existing client companies (46 expansions and 41 R&D investments). FDI is now responsible for 1 in 7 jobs in the Economy.
In accordance with the Action Plan for Jobs IDA Ireland has been set a very challenging target to create 12,500 jobs with an associated 8,750 in the wider economy, giving a total impact of 21,250 in 2012. Recent results announced by the Agency show that good progress is being made in reaching this target and that the strong flow of FDI is continuing as, at mid year, there had been over 5,000 new job announcements by IDA client companies, with almost half of these in locations outside of Dublin and Cork.
Globally the outlook for FDI continues to be challenging, but there are still investment opportunities in global markets. IDA Ireland has assured me that it is optimistic that Ireland can continue to win significant FDI, building on its strong track record. IDA is targeting a number of sectors that will continue to grow even in a globally challenging environment. These include IT/Technology, Digital Media and Life sciences. Even in areas of low or no growth, FDI opportunities will arise in sectors such as the consolidation of technology and operations hubs in global financial institutions and consolidation of operations in a number of other sectors.
