Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 February 2024
46. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of IDA supported jobs in Clare at the end of 2023; how this compares to 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5562/24]
View answerIDA Ireland's strategy, Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth 2021-2024, identifies opportunities for sustainable growth among its established base of clients and new investments. The strategy is delivered through a focus on five pillars: Growth, Transformation, Regions, Sustainability, and Impact, through a focus on transformative investments to increase the productivity of Irish operations and their workforce through RD&I, digitalisation, training, and actions on sustainability.
Despite the challenging global economic environment, over 19,000 new jobs were created in IDA supported client companies in 2023, maintaining the numbers directly employed in the multinational sector in Ireland at over 300,000 for the second consecutive year.
Regional development remains a top priority for my Department and for IDA Ireland. As part of IDA Ireland’s strategy, half of all investments to the end of 2024 are to go to regional locations outside Dublin. In this regard, IDA Ireland won 248 investments in 2023 of which 54%, or 132 projects, went to regional locations. The total number of regional jobs now stands at 163,471 with employment in the Midwest Region, across Limerick, Clare and Tipperary, up 2.6%. There are now 159 IDA client companies in the Mid-West Region, employing 27,257 people. 70 of these companies are in Clare with combined employment of 5,919 people.
The Mid-West 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-West also benefit greatly from the direct and indirect employment generated by IDA client companies located in other bordering regions, including the cities of Cork, Galway, Kilkenny and Waterford.
Clare has seen investment announcements from IDA client companies like Beckman Coulter, Edwards Lifesciences, Element Six, Extreme Networks, IQEQ, Jaguar Land Rover, Lufthansa Technik Turbine Shannon, MeiraGTx and OLED Material Manufacturing PPG in recent years.
IDA Ireland also actively engages with Clare County Council, Shannon Commercial Properties and other property owners and stakeholders on their development plans, and markets sites and property solutions across the Mid-West region through its extensive overseas network to both existing and new investors. In this regard, the region is well positioned to continue to retain and attract new FDI investment and grow employment in existing companies and IDA Ireland will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders and parties in the region to achieve this objective under the Regional Enterprise Plan.
Finally, the number of IDA supported jobs in Clare, for the years 2020-2023, is set out in the table below. It demonstrates that FDI remains strong in Clare - 70 IDA client companies - against challenging international environment while acknowledging employment level reductions in 2022 and 2023:
|
- |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
|
Companies |
70 |
71 |
69 |
70 |
|
Jobs |
6,796 |
6,541 |
6,193 |
5,919 |
