IDA Ireland on Track to achieve ambitious Foreign Direct Investment Targets for 2010

Ireland now hosts operations from 8 out of the top 10 ICT companies, 8 out of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and 15 of the top 20 medical devices companies. By working closely with Team Ireland, including local and national Government, IDA’s sister enterprise agencies, industry and academia, to constantly enhance Ireland’s value proposition, IDA will retain its place as the most competitive, client focused FDI agency in the world.

IDA Chairman Liam O’Mahony

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe, TD, today (Wednesday July 14th 2010) revealed that IDA Ireland is on track to achieve ambitious Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) targets set out for 2010. Minister O’Keeffe made the announcement at a media briefing at IDA Headquarters in Dublin outlining the achievements of the development and investment agency for the first half of 2010.

2010 has seen IDA already secure 63 new investments of which 20 were from companies setting up operations in Ireland for the first time, 22 were expansion investments from existing client companies and 21 of the investments were in Research and Development. A number of key trends are driving the current success in FDI in Ireland including the growth in the US technology sector, growing trends in Cleantech, an improvement in Ireland’s competitiveness, currency movements and an overall global recovery in FDI.

Commenting at the press conference, Minister O’Keeffe said, ‘The impact of FDI on Ireland’s economic recovery is highly significant. FDI accounts for €110 billion or over 70% of total exports in the Irish economy, 240,000 jobs, 55% of corporation tax, €19 billion in direct expenditure, €7 billion in payroll costs and 73% of business spend on Research, Development and Innovation. The Agency continues to attract and secure for Ireland leading Foreign Direct Investment that will add to Ireland’s Smart Economy reputation.’

IDA CEO Barry O’Leary said, ‘A number of factors have contributed to a positive first half of 2010 for FDI. Ireland’s increased competitiveness and leanings towards an upturn in the world economy combined with Ireland’s excellent corporate tax regime, talent, track record and technology capability have lead to investments in the Services Sector from Zurich, EA, Hertz, Dun and Bradstreet and Stream Global Services. Investments in RD&I have come from IBM, United Technologies and Alcatel-Lucent while manufacturing announcements highlight a strong regional aspect with investments from MCi (Leitrim), Merit Medical (Galway), Warner Chilcott (Dundalk) and Valeo (Tuam) in addition to investments in Dublin announced by Lufthansa Technik and Biotrin.’

‘IDA’s pipeline for FDI remains positive and while we face strong competition our focus on achieving Transformation by working with client companies to promote company-wide competitiveness initiatives, technology uplift, skills uplift, research and development, process development and energy efficiency means IDA is confident of its ability to continue to secure the best in FDI for Ireland.’

Mr. O’Leary continued by saying, ‘Despite substantial improvements in our competitive position with reductions in labour, energy and property, continuous improvement in Ireland’s competitiveness throughout the economy is critical to the success of FDI here.’

IDA Chairman Liam O’Mahony said, ‘IDA’s results for the first half of 2010 are encouraging with a positive outlook for the coming months. Ireland’s FDI landscape remains healthy and has a strong global reputation which is further enhanced by IDA’s integrated marketing campaign highlighting Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for FDI. Ireland now hosts operations from 8 out of the top 10 ICT companies, 8 out of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies and 15 of the top 20 medical devices companies. By working closely with Team Ireland, including local and national Government, IDA’s sister enterprise agencies, industry and academia, to constantly enhance Ireland’s value proposition, IDA will retain its place as the most competitive, client focused FDI agency in the world.’