Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
84. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the additional incentives the IDA has in place to encourage foreign direct investment outside Dublin and adjacent counties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35054/20]
View answerThe Government is strongly committed to regional development and this Department and its agencies - including IDA Ireland - are working towards ambitious targets to ensure that employment and investment are as evenly distributed as possible across the country. This includes actively marketing potential investment sites outside of our main cities and working to develop recognised industry clusters that will attract overseas investors to regional locations.
Every region in Ireland witnessed foreign direct investment (FDI) employment gains and by the end of 2019, there were 138,000 people employed in 724 IDA client companies located outside of Dublin, with 57% of all IDA client-supported jobs located outside the capital. With respect to 2020, the Agency has secured over 130 investments to date, which have the potential to create almost 10,000 jobs. Almost half of these new projects were secured for locations outside Dublin.
The Agency has a number of incentives in place to encourage companies to invest in regional locations. In addition to the general support that it provides to client firms through advice and expertise on investing in Ireland, the Agency is authorised by my Department to provide a range of particular financial supports in the form of employment, capital, research and development, environmental and training grants. These grants represent an important means of encouraging companies to invest in Ireland, particularly to regional locations and this includes counties adjacent to Dublin.
The IDA's Regional Property Programme (RPP) also remains an important tool through which investors can be encouraged to locate in areas outside of Dublin. The RPP is targeted at ensuring the ready availability of an adequate supply of marketable serviced land, office and industrial buildings in advance of demand by both existing and potential client companies.
The impact of the IDA’s Regional Property Programme is reflected in the transformative nature of some of the key investments secured for the regions through it. Over €100m in capital investment and over 1,000 high-quality jobs have been secured through this programme for towns including Waterford, Athlone, Castlebar, Limerick, Sligo and Tralee.
Balanced regional development will remain a top priority for this Government and will be a key objective in the IDA's new strategy which will be launched in the coming months.
