Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 October 2015
78. Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of visits made by potential multinational investors with the Industrial Development Agency to a town (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34797/15]
View answerI am advised by IDA Ireland that site visits are recorded on a county basis only so it is therefore not possible to give figures for individual towns. The number of site visits by potential multi-national investors to Co. Galway to the middle of 2015 is 16. At present, there are 63 IDA supported companies in Galway City and County, employing 13,862 in total. IDA Ireland actively markets Galway as part of its West region, which comprises counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. The agency has developed property solutions in Galway, which are promoted across its global offices. In particular, there are two sites in Tuam that IDA Ireland markets. The first is the Tuam Business Park, which is a 13.48ha site. The second is the 10.73 ha Tuam Business & Technology Park. Tenants include companies such as Valeo Vision Systems, Transitions Optical, Logstrup and SSL Logistics.
The availability of an adequate supply of marketable, serviced land and office and industrial/technology buildings in advance of demand is a key element in IDA Ireland’s ability to compete for mobile FDI.
The availability of property solutions eliminates the lead times normally associated with acquiring property, enables clients to plan their property needs with a greater degree of certainty and allows for the commencement of projects at an earlier date by eliminating much of the difficulties associated with land acquisition, planning and construction.
IDA Ireland launched its new Strategy for the next five years earlier this year. Entitled ‘Winning – Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019’, it sets out IDA Ireland’s commitment to achieve a significant increase in the amount of FDI projects going into regions and outlines the strategic actions aimed at achieving the organisation's regional goals. One such strategic action is a €150m property investment plan, which will be spread out over five years. The funding will be used to upgrade Ireland's business and technology parks, as well as investing in a number of strategic utility-intensive sites and building new advanced technology buildings in a number of regional locations.
Competition for FDI is intense and global, with virtually every country in the world actively seeking new FDI investments but IDA Ireland has a long and credible track record of presenting potential investors with the best location options throughout Ireland for each client. The agency actively incentivises and encourages investors to consider a range of potential locations in Ireland, however, the ultimate locations selected are always decided by its clients and not by IDA Ireland.
