Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 September 2022
162. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps that are needed and likely to continue to ensure that Ireland remains an attractive location for foreign direct investment; if any particular obstacles have been identified in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45387/22]
View answerIreland’s reputation as an attractive location for FDI has remained strong, as evidenced by IDA Ireland’s 2022 mid-year results. Ireland won 155 investments up to the end of the second quarter this year, exceeding both 2021 and 2019 investment levels by 9% and 10% respectively, with total investments having an associated employment potential of over 18,000 jobs. Despite this success we must continue our efforts to maintain Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for investment.
To ensure Ireland remains an attractive investment location, IDA Ireland continues to emphasise the core elements of Ireland’s value proposition for FDI. Our strengths, including our pro-enterprise policy environment, highly educated English-speaking workforce and our membership of the European Union, remain attractive to international investors. In addition, IDA Ireland’s strategy for 2021-2024 was developed within the context of our uncertain and challenging environment and positions the Agency to respond. The Strategy is built on the five pillars of Regions, Growth, Transformation, Sustainability and Impact, and it has an ambitious set of targets including 800 investments and 50,000 new jobs. IDA Ireland will assess progress on the strategy and make any adjustments necessary to respond to changes in the global or national environment. My Department is also currently reviewing our broader enterprise policy through the development of a White Paper on Enterprise. In doing so we are reflecting on how we achieved our enterprise success, in addition to considering how we will address the challenges and obstacles ahead. The paper will set out a medium-to-long-term direction for enterprise policy in response to challenges, opportunities and new drivers of growth.
These steps will enable us to address and respond to the numerous challenges and obstacles emerging from our changing global environment such as increased competition for FDI, inflation, rising energy costs, geopolitical issues, decarbonisation and digitalisation.
