Update: Ireland Remaining Competitive for Foreign Direct Investment – Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation 20th November, 2014

To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which this country continues to remain competitive and attractive for foreign direct investment and indigenous investment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

*    For WRITTEN answer on Thursday, 20th November, 2014.

Ref No:   44745/14    

We are continuing to make progress as a country in improving our international competitiveness, towards the Government’s objective of being the best small country in the world in which to do business. Since 2011, Ireland’s international competitiveness rankings in both the IMD and WEF competitiveness reports has improved €“ from 24 ^th  to 15 ^th  in the IMD’s World Competitiveness Yearbook, and from 29 ^th  to 25 ^th  in the WEF Global Competitiveness Report. In the World Bank’s Doing Business 2015 report, Ireland is ranked 13 ^th  out of 189.

According to the WEF, Ireland ranks ahead of other advanced countries in categories such as Institutions (e.g., rule of law, corporate governance, etc.), Labour Market Efficiency, and the Goods Market category (e.g. presence of competition, taxes, etc.). Irish scores are weakest in the ‘Macro-Economic Environment’ category which is driven by Government debt and borrowing. Market size and access to funding are also somewhat weaker. These weaknesses are being addressed through Government macro-economic policies and the on-going focus on improving the performance of financial institutions.

Ireland’s positive and improving business environment was noted in the European Commission’s Member States’ Competitiveness Report  (published 11 ^th  September 2014).

All of these factors reflect Ireland’s enduring strength as an investment location. This strength is reflected in the performance of firms support by the Enterprise Agencies €“ for example, total permanent, full-time employment in agency-assisted companies in the industrial and services sectors amounted to 303,155 in 2013, an increase of 8,579 jobs on 2012 employment.

Foreign Direct Investment has been buoyant so far this year, with IDA Ireland securing over 100 investments in the first half of 2014, up from 70 in the same period of 2013, with potential job creation of 8,000.  The IDA note that 40% of the investments came from companies investing in Ireland for the first time, as Ireland’s value proposition continues to resonate with new investors. The Government has recently published a Policy Statement on FDI designed to ensure that Ireland’s inward investment offering continues to be attractive and competitive.

On the indigenous side, Enterprise Ireland had a record year for job creation and exports in 2013 and are the outlook is for continued strong export growth for 2014. I recently published the National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship in Ireland, which aims to support the creation of an additional 93,000 jobs from start-up companies in the next five years.

The APJ 2015, which is currently under development, provides further opportunity to design actions to enhance Ireland’s competiveness, which will provide the underpinning for a continued strong investment performance.