Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 October 2013
129. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the reason the Industrial Development Agency continues to ignore County Kerry when it comes to encouraging foreign investors to set up business here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41704/13]
View answerIn relation to the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) to County Kerry, IDA Ireland has indicated that the challenge it faces is to continue to win top quality investment for Ireland in a very challenging global environment. Leading global corporations require a significant population pool, access to qualified talent, world class physical and digital infrastructure as well as the availability of sophisticated professional and business support services. IDA Ireland, however tries to influence these choices by prioritising the marketing of Gateway locations within each Region as the locations of critical mass with sufficient scale of population, skills, infrastructure, companies, business services, etc. and highlights the opportunities provided by Hub locations which are within commuting distances of these Gateways. With continuing enhancement and improvements in physical and digital infrastructure, an FDI project secured for one Gateway can have a positive impact on other Gateways and their surrounding areas. It must be acknowledged, that the decision on where a client company will locate a new FDI investment is ultimately made by senior managers of the companies involved.
A number of locations outside of Dublin and the main urban centres already facilitate the presence of a large number of multinational companies who have invested over the years, span multiple sectors and employ significant amounts of people. The primary opportunity for attracting FDI to such regional locations lies with existing clients and the potential further investment opportunities from this base as approximately 70% of all FDI investments won by IDA is from the existing client base. At the end of 2012 there were 12 IDA Ireland supported companies in Kerry employing 1,600 people.
I am determined to ensure that Ireland can continue to compete globally for foreign direct investment. In winning such investments, I am, however, mindful of the need to address the concerns that have been expressed to me by Deputies on all sides of the House about the relatively low level of site visits to certain regional locations. I have, accordingly, requested IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to work with my Department so that we can explore what further initiatives we can take to ensure we have a better approach to enterprise development in regional locations. This exercise will complement the in-depth analysis of our FDI strategy which is currently being undertaken. This analysis, will take account of factors such as key trends emerging in FDI best practice internationally, Ireland’s strengths in attracting FDI, the changes to the EU’s State Aid rules that will be introduced in 2014 and our approach to regional development will inform the formulation of an appropriate FDI strategy for the period post 2014.
