Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2018
359. Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of site visits made to specific locations (details supplied) in County Cork in the past five years, in tabular form. [9326/18]
View answerIDA Ireland remains committed to increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in every region of Ireland by 30% to 40% by the end of the Agency's current strategy in 2019. Progress is being made towards that target, with half of all jobs created in the first three years of that strategy based outside of Dublin.
IDA Ireland continues to highlight the benefits of expanding or locating in County Cork to its client base and it makes every effort to ensure that FDI is spread as widely as possible across the county. It is important to remember, however, that the final decision as to where to invest always rests with the company concerned. It is also the case that site visit activity does not necessarily reflect investment potential, as at least 70% of all new FDI comes from existing IDA Ireland client companies.
Site visits nevertheless do represent an important tool through which investors can be encouraged to invest in regional areas and the IDA always does its utmost to ensure that investors consider all potential locations when visiting Ireland.
IDA Ireland collates data for site visits at a county level only, so information is not available on visits to particular areas within a county. The table sets out the number of site visits to County Cork for the period from 2013 to 2017.
Site visits to Cork 2013 to 2017
|
Year |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
|
Cork |
31 |
30 |
48 |
49 |
51 |
