Skip to main content
Normal View

Industrial Development

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 January 2014

Thursday, 23 January 2014

Questions (18)

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

18. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he will take with the Industrial Development Agency following its failure to again meet the target of 50% of investment located outside of the major urban centres of Cork and Dublin. [2947/14]

View answer

Written answers

The IDA Ireland Strategy for the period 2010 to 2014, “Horizon 2020”, set an ambitious regional economic development target of 50% of investments in regions outside Dublin and Cork and this has proven to be a challenge. There are many complex factors influencing investor location decision-making such as the increasing preference of investors globally for cities of scale with 1 million plus population, significant challenges from lower cost locations in the UK and Eastern Europe and attractive regional aid.

While I am, of course, disappointed that IDA Ireland has failed to meet the very ambitious target of 50%, the result for 2013 at 30% is ahead of the outcome of 25% in 2012 indicating a positive trend in terms of new investment in the Regions. I should point out that 72,500 people, roughly 44% of the total employment in IDA Ireland’s base of companies including those that were former clients of Shannon Development, are located outside of Dublin and Cork.

It must be acknowledged that some 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 regional locations is in respect of the existing client base and potential further investment opportunities from same. Approximately 70% of all FDI investments won by IDA Ireland is from the existing client base. During 2013, there were some very big announcements in regional locations such as Dundalk, Limerick and Waterford.

I am, of course, concerned at the lack of investment in certain regional locations and 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 by Forfás and which will take account of factors such as key trends emerging in FDI best practice internationally, Ireland’s strengths in attracting FDI and any changes to the EU’s State Aid Rules, which will come into effect on 1 July 2014.

The results of these two exercises will form the basis of IDA Ireland’s strategy from 2015 onwards.

Finally, I have appointed Frank Ryan, former Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland to be Chairperson of the board of IDA Ireland with effect from 1 January 2014. Given his previous experience in supporting enterprise development in this country while working in both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, he is ideally placed to oversee the next phase of growth in the multinational sector. I have every confidence that under his Chairmanship, the multinational sector can continue the strong growth which has been so crucial to our economic recovery in recent years. I look forward to working with IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and officials of my Department in developing strategies for the enhancement of enterprise and jobs in the regional locations.

Top
Share