Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 February 2013
316. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if it is acceptable that the Industrial Development Agency have no official designated to cover the north east area; if this is the only region in the country with no designated IDA official; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10344/13]
View answerThe allocation of duties to individual staff members in IDA Ireland is a day to day operational matter for the agency and not one in which I have a function. I have made enquiries of IDA Ireland and I have been informed that, during 2010, a Business Process Transformation Initiative was conducted by the Agency. This initiative examined every role in the organisation for the purpose of highlighting operational changes that could be implemented to enhance delivery of key objectives; identifying areas of duplication that could be addressed by improved processes; as well as identifying areas where there was scope to introduce enhanced IT systems, thus giving the agency greater flexibility to relocate staff to client facing functions.
Following that process, I understand that IDA Ireland retains two offices in the North East Region – an office in Cavan, with one full time role concentrating on client facing activities and an office in Dundalk, with one client facing role and one part time support role. In 2011 and 2012 there has been a net gain of 378 jobs in IDA companies in the North East, compared to a net loss of 733 in the period 2008 - 2010.
At the end of 2012 there were 34 IDA Ireland supported companies employing 3,211 people in IDA’s North East Region, which consists of the counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Louth. In addition, there have been some very significant investments announced for the region in the last 12 months. In February 2012 Pay Pal announced the creation of 1,000 jobs in Dundalk over a four year period. This was followed in October with the announcement by Yapstone of the creation of 120 new jobs at its new EMEA HQ in Drogheda, while earlier this month, EBay announced its intention to create 450 jobs in its operating centre in Dundalk. These investments, along with the existing base of overseas companies located in the Region, will contribute to the economic development of the Region as a whole.
