Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2015
360. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on IDA Ireland actively working with companies involved in securing contracts for the outsourcing of jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28709/15]
View answerIDA Ireland is involved in the attraction of foreign direct investment to Ireland to service international markets and is not involved in the day to day operational or decision making functions of companies.
There is a growing tendency worldwide for companies to outsource certain business functions and companies in Ireland are part of this trend. Companies in all sectors utilise the practice to enhance productivity, utilise their resources better, focus on more core business areas and to be able to tap into new technologies without in-house expertise.
Such Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a fast growing economic sector and one which represents an exciting opportunity. It would be very short-sighted not to recognise that this sector should be pursued to assist job creation in Ireland and, indeed, thereby avoid outsourced jobs moving to other countries, given that modern technologies make this easily achievable in most cases.
We have several very successful companies in this sector located in Ireland, both foreign owned and Irish owned, pursuing contracts at home and abroad. Some of these companies are supported by either IDA Ireland or Enterprise Ireland. These companies have gained a significant portion of this market and they provide several thousand valuable jobs, often in regional centres where other employment opportunities are not readily available. Whenever such contracts are available it is obviously in our national interest that companies based here should pursue opportunities and compete for this work.
