Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
37. Deputy John Brady asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of visits that have been made by the IDA to Wicklow over the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41105/22]
View answer2021 was a record-breaking year for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) employment, with total employment in IDA client companies now standing at 275,384, up over 29,000 on 2020. Growth outside of Dublin was particularly buoyant with 53%, that is 133 projects of the 249 investments won going to regional locations and employment growth was recorded in every region of the country.
Wicklow, along with Louth, Meath and Kildare make up IDA’s Mid-East Region, which showed 5% growth on the previous year. There are now 103 IDA client companies directly employing 18,894 people in this region. The Mid-East has a significant ecosystem of well-established companies across Technology, Life Sciences, International Financial Services and Engineering & Industrial Technologies. It has also won significant investment in the Food and the Film sub-sectors. Counties in the Mid-East also benefit from the direct and indirect employment generated by IDA client companies located in Dublin.
IDA Ireland continues to engage with new companies on promoting Ireland as a location for their business utilising virtual site visits as well as physically visiting the county. Site visit details are recorded on a county basis, and I am advised that the verified figures for Q2 will be available next month. As a result of the severe restrictions on international travel over the last two years, the ability to host site visits was severely limited.
The numbers of site visits to County Wicklow from 2017 to Q1 2022 are set out in the table below:
|
2022 (Q1) |
2021 |
2020 |
|
|
Wicklow |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
|
6 |
1 |
2 |
