IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan has tendered his resignation from the agency and will commence a period of “garden leave” effective from Wednesday.
Mr Shanahan had signalled in July that he intended to step down as chief executive early next year after eight years at the helm.
The agency said it had appointed Mary Buckley as interim chief executive also effective from Wednesday.
Ms Buckley is currently executive director of the IDA, a role she has filled since 2015. She is also a member of the agency’s executive leadership team.
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An international competition to fill the role of chief executive of IDA Ireland will commence immediately, the agency said.
Ireland’s attractiveness
In a recent interview with The Irish Times Inside Business podcast, Mr Shanahan said he was happy with the progress made under his tenureship while warning of the challenges that Ireland still faces in attempting to win more investment.
Mr Shanahan also said he believed Ireland would still manage to attract significant investment despite the move – globally – to a minimum 15 per cent tax rate for big companies.
In its latest annual report, the agency noted that total direct employment in IDA client companies grew to a record 275,384 last year. It also reported that multinationals supported by the agency contributed 72 per cent of Irish export sales and 70 per cent of corporation tax receipts in 2021.
Chairman Frank Ryan thanked Mr Shanahan for his service to IDA and to Ireland saying that he had “served IDA and the country with distinction”.
“Martin has steered IDA through some of the most difficult challenges that it has faced in its history, from driving economic recovery to international tax changes, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, a global pandemic and more recent global geopolitical and economic challenges,” he said.
“Winning foreign direct investment is hugely competitive and Martin has been a constant economic ambassador for Ireland in boardrooms across the world during his tenure.”
