Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 February 2013
134. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide an annual target for the creation of jobs already announced in Industrial Development Agency supported companies for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for which grant aid has been committed. [10791/13]
View answerOne of the high level goals in IDA’s Strategy Horizon 2020 is the creation of a total of 105,000 new jobs in the economy - 62,000 direct jobs in client companies and 43,000 indirect in the wider economy - over the period 2010 to 2014. IDA is making good progress in achieving this particular target and, by the end of 2012, the agency had delivered 36,000 gross jobs, slightly ahead of target. During 2012 alone, 12,722 new jobs were created in IDA client companies. Furthermore, there were 88 investment announcements by IDA client companies with the potential to create in the region of 8,000 jobs.
IDA Ireland has explained that there is usually a time lag of between three to five years between the announcement of an investment and the jobs coming on stream as a result of that investment, and, that some investment and job creation projects are not announced in accordance with the company’s wishes. The Agency has also confirmed that grant payments are not made until critical project milestones relating to jobs coming on stream are reached.
In order to ensure that Ireland can continue to compete globally for foreign direct investment (FDI), it will be necessary to undertake an in depth analysis of our FDI strategy with a view to informing the formulation of an appropriate strategy for the period post 2014. This analysis, which will be undertaken later this year, will take account of factors such as key trends emerging in FDI best practice internationally, Ireland’s strengths in attracting FDI, any changes to the EU’s State Aid rules that may be introduced in the near future and our agreed approach to regional development.
In the meantime, IDA Ireland has assured me that it will in 2013, in accordance with the Government’s 2013 Action Plan for Jobs, seek to target more than 130 new investments, secure €500 million of R&D expenditure and create 13,000 new jobs in its client companies.
