Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Dec 1991

Vol. 413 No. 9

Written Answers. - IDA Job Creation.

Roger T. Garland

Ceist:

160 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will outline (1) the number of factories/firms that have been attracted into this country and the number of jobs they created over the last ten years, (2) the cost per factory jobs, (3) the number of these factories which have since closed down and their cost to the Exchequer, (4) the number of jobs which were lost in each case and (5) if he considers the efforts of the IDA to be successful.

Minister for Industry and Commerce (Mr. O'Malley)

I am informed by the IDA that the number of firms attracted to Ireland in the last ten years was 631 and that these firms generated 32,835 new jobs. Total payments to these companies amounted to £382.55 million.

IDA calculates cost per job figures on the basis of the number of jobs created and sustained over a seven-year period. The figures for various industrial categories, both overseas and indigenous, are contained in IDA's latest annual report.

A total of 167 overseas companies closed during this period and payments to these companies totalled £67.143 million. Over the ten-year period 4,813 jobs were lost arising from these closures.

There are now over 1,000 overseas firms operating in Ireland employing 90,000 people directly. This is equivalent to 40 per cent of the industrial workforce and represents 50 per cent of manufactured output and three quarters of industrial exports. Overseas industry also makes a substantial contribution to employment and prosperity in other sectors of the economy.

I am satisfied that the efforts of the IDA in the attraction of overseas industry to Ireland have been successful.