Up to 8,000 new jobs have been created in Ireland by inward investment companies in the first half of 2014, according to IDA Ireland’s mid-year statement.
By the end of last year, IDA-backed companies had created 13,376 jobs. IDA estimates show that for every 10 jobs provided by foreign direct investment (FDI), another seven indirect jobs are generated for the Irish economy.
“The first half has seen a strong FDI performance and Ireland is very much competing strongly in the global marketplace for inward investment,”said Barry O’Leary, IDA Ireland’s outgoing chief executive.
“The IDA’s strategic concentration in recent years on emerging companies provided an additional boost to this performance.”
The IDA said this morning that 100 investments were secured in the first six months of the year compared with 70 at this time last year.
Of the investments secured, 40pc are greenfield (or first-time) investors in Ireland.
The remainder of investments come from expansions and transformations of existing companies.
During the first six months of 2014, there were investments in a range of regional locations, including Dundalk, Athlone, Galway, Mayo and Limerick.
Among the companies that announced investments in Ireland in the first half of this year are Intel, Regeneron, Tyco, IBM, PayPal, Airbnb, Workday, Yelp, Alexion, Hewlett-Packard, Biomarin, Johnson & Johnson, SurveyMonkey, Ericsson, SmartBear Software, Hollister, SAP, HedgeServ, AdRoll and Zendesk.
A promising second half
“The second half of the year looks equally encouraging, with IDA particularly concentrating on attracting first-time investors,” O’Leary said.
“The value proposition Ireland offers global corporations, which rests on a complex blend of a strong talent pool, a proven track record, strong technology infrastructure, and a 12.5pc corporate tax rate, continues to resonate strongly with investors.”
At the end of 2013, IDA Ireland reported 161,112 people were working at IDA client companies, a new record in inward investment in Ireland.
Since late last year, IDA Ireland took on responsibility for 55 companies in the Shannon region, bringing total employment at IDA companies to 166,184 people.
“Continuing the strong flow of jobs growth from multinational companies is a crucial part of our Action Plan for Jobs,” the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said.
“We have put in place a range of measures to support jobs growth in this area, including extra IDA staff overseas, an increase in the number of ministerial trade missions, and new advance facilities in regional cities and towns. In the past three years, we have seen a total of more than 18,000 net new jobs created in multinational companies across the country.”
Tribute to Barry O’Leary
Bruton paid tribute to O’Leary, who is stepping down from his role and will be replaced by the CEO of Forfás Martin Shanahan.
“Barry took over as CEO of IDA Ireland at the height of the financial crisis, but in the past three and a half years, in particular, he has overseen some of the strongest employment results in IDA’s history.
“He has been an excellent public servant in the crucial area of job creation for several decades and I wish him every success with whatever the future holds,” Bruton said.
