Catherine Murphy
Question:60. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of site visits hosted by the IDA in County Kildare in 2023 and for the first two months of 2024. [15560/24]
View answerWednesday, 10 April 2024
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Regional development is a key element of Government's enterprise policy, as set out in the White Paper on Enterprise and is the key focus of my Department's work on developing and implementing Regional Enterprise Plans. Moreover, IDA Ireland is also committed to the pursuit of balanced, compact regional development and is targeting that at least half of all investments - that is 400 of 800 - from 2021 to 2024 to regional locations and to maintain the same high level of investment as targeted in IDA’s previous strategy for each region of the country.
IDA Ireland results for 2023 showed that total employment in IDA client companies in Ireland stands at 300,583, holding above 300,000 jobs for the second consecutive year. Of 248 investments in 2023, 132, 54%, went to regional locations.
The Mid-East Region comprises counties Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow. There are 113 IDA client companies in the Mid-East Region, employing 21,861 people. 39 of these are located in Kildare employing 12,174 people. In this regard, the Mid-East has a significant ecosystem of well-established companies across Technology, Life Sciences, International Financial Services and Engineering and Industrial Technologies as well as significant investment in the Food and the Film sub-sectors. Counties in the Mid-East also benefit from direct and indirect employment generated by IDA client companies located in Dublin.
Investment by IDA Ireland through its property programme aims to ensure the supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations as required by current and prospective clients to remain competitive in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the regions including the Mid-East. IDA Ireland continues to engage with new and existing companies on promoting Ireland as a location for their business and the Agency will continue to promote Kildare for virtual and in-person site visits to prospective companies throughout 2024 and beyond. Over 2023 there were 4 site visits to Kildare, all of which were in-person. Figures for Q1 2024 are currently being verified and will be available later this month.