Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 March 2017
207. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she continues to compete for job creation opportunities inside and outside the EU, particularly in anticipation of Brexit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14676/17]
View answerThe Government has already taken a number of important initiatives, including in bolstering the capacity of our enterprise agencies to maximise job creation opportunities inside and outside the EU.
The recently published Action Plan for Jobs 2017 builds on this with specific measures to:
- support enterprises, particularly those most dependent on UK markets
- identify and target new markets
- assist Irish businesses expand and scale and
- help position Ireland to benefit from new opportunities that arise.
The Government has just published a new trade and investment strategy which is supported by an extensive programme of Ministerial-led trade missions, as part of a major drive towards market diversification.
Enterprise 2025 continues to provide a solid roadmap for longer-term enterprise development with a focus on building the resilience of the enterprise base, export-led growth and job creation. In anticipation of the type of strategic exercise that may be needed to restate or reposition our global offering, I have asked my officials to undertake an urgent review of progress under Enterprise 2025.
At the Agency level I have directed IDA Ireland to explore the potential for winning more FDI on account of Brexit and the Agency and its staff are already working hard with this goal in mind.
In our efforts to win more FDI, we can continue to rely on the selling points that make investing in Ireland so attractive in the first place including our continued membership of the European Union and Eurozone.
I secured additional funding for IDA in 2017 to strengthen its capacity to communicate Ireland’s unique selling points to the international business audience and to help target key markets to secure investment and jobs.
The potential sources of FDI are likely to come from:
- existing IDA Clients with a presence in Ireland who also have a presence in the UK;
- overseas clients (US, European and Asian) who have a presence in the UK but not in Ireland;
- UK companies operating in the UK who now need certain access to the European Market; and
- International clients without a presence in Europe seeking a European home.
From an indigenous enterprise perspective, Enterprise Ireland’s strategy for the period 2017-2020 focuses on:
- Consolidating and growing exports into the UK market
- Expanding the Irish export global footprint, re-orienting towards N America, Canada, Asia and the Middle-East
- Expanding the EI Export Platform
I have already announced 39 extra staff for EI’s overseas offices and in the Irish based team to support exporting companies in the context of Brexit. Staff will be assigned to:
- Markets that are growing and have scale (including China, India, Latin America, Africa);
- Markets where we are already well established but with potential for further growth (including UK, France, Benelux, Germany, US, the Nordics).
