Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 October 2023
30. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position regarding the progression of a new IDA advance facility at Kerry Technology Park; the position regarding the existing facility (details supplied); the employment data relating to this facility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44401/23]
View answer61. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if a new IDA advance facility will be considered for the Killarney area, given the relative lack of new foreign direct investment in the area in recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44402/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 61 together.
IDA Ireland’s Regional Property Programme aims to ensure the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations to meet the needs of current and prospective clients of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Local Enterprise Offices and is a significant driver of regional economic development and job creation.
Under IDA’s Property Programme the regional building programme will see 19 Advanced Building Solutions being developed in regional locations across Ireland over the period to 2024 including in Tralee. Under its current strategy, IDA has made considerable property investments in Kerry, including in May this year when the IDA completed the acquisition of over 16 hectares of lands at Kerry Technology Park, Tralee from Shannon Commercial. Furthermore, at present, IDA Ireland is working to identify a suitable site within its land bank at Kerry Technology Park to accommodate the construction of an Advanced Building Solution in the context of planned developments at the site.
IDA Ireland continues to engage with Central Pharma in respect of the Advanced Technology Building in Tralee. The most recent information provided by the company, as of October 2023, is that they have no employees and 2 open vacancies. More generally, however, the number of people employed in IDA client companies in Kerry has seen a 21% growth over the last 9 years 9 years.
In September 2023, Astellas Pharma Inc announced its intention to build a state of the art facility at an approximate cost of €330 million on IDA’s newly acquired lands in Kerry Technology Park, bringing highly specialised engineering, science and technology roles to the Region. The investment will also create a large number of construction jobs during the construction phase of the new facility. This is one of largest FDI announcements for Kerry and the wider region in recent years.
Moreover, IDA Ireland has also partnered with Local Authorities and the private sector to deliver additional buildings in key locations where appropriate. In each region, IDA Ireland is also investing in significant infrastructure projects across the portfolio of Business and Technology Parks to upgrade and maintain these key assets in line with the evolving requirements of IDA Ireland and EI clients.
IDA Ireland also continues to engage with new and existing companies on promoting Ireland as a location for their business and the Agency will continue to position County Kerry for virtual and in-person site visits to prospective companies in 2023 and beyond. To date, in 2023 there has been one in-person site visit to Kerry.
