Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 May 2024
65. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures being considered in increasing the current number of IDA-supported jobs for the mid Cork region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23084/24]
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.
Moreover, 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 South-West Region, across Cork and Kerry, up 1.2%. There are now 233 IDA client companies in the South-West Region, employing 51,296 people. 216 of these companies are in Cork with combined employment of 49,253 people.
The South-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 across all of these sectors over a sustained period which has contributed significantly to employment growth and positive economic impacts on other sectors of the economy. Key IDA client companies in the region include Apple Operations Europe, Dell EMC, Amazon CSC Ireland Ltd., Eli Lilly SA, DePuy Synthes, Boston Scientific, TELUS International and Stryker.
Cork has seen investment announcements from IDA client companies like Infineon Technologies AG, Qualcomm, PepsiCo, Blink Parametric, AMD, dóTERRA, BioMarin, Oxford Global Resources Ltd, Stryker and Dell Technologies in recent years.
IDA Ireland actively engages with Cork County Council and other property owners and stakeholders across the South-West region on their development plans and markets sites and property solutions, through its extensive overseas network, to both existing and new investors, including property in the mid Cork region. 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.
