IDA says new year to be best for investment since 2000

Next year will be the Republic's best year for attracting foreign investment since 2000, IDA chief executive, Mr Sean Dorgan has predicted.

Speaking as the agency launched its review of 2003 yesterday, Mr Dorgan said the Republic was currently in competition for "some very significant investments of high value and considerable skill content".

The IDA's focus, Mr Dorgan added, is no longer on job creation but on the attraction of high-level investment projects.

He said the US economic recovery, when coupled with domestic policy changes, would help to bring such initiatives to the Republic, but warned that this would result in just "limited" employment growth.

"Rather, jobs will be created and sustained in other parts of the economy to which many activities are outsourced, or where the higher earnings of those in the multinational sector are spent."

The IDA's end-year figures show that companies supported by the agency shed more jobs than they created in 2003 for the third year in a row.

Some 9,182 new jobs were generated by IDA clients, while 12,193 positions were cut.

Growth came principally in pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and international services, while most declines came in electronics, engineering and other manufacturing.

The IDA described the net loss of 3,011 jobs, or 2.3 per cent in total IDA-supported employment as "disappointing" but said it should be placed against a backdrop where the Republic has increased its share of inward investment into Europe at "the higher end of skills and value".

A total of 64 new projects have been secured by the IDA this year, compared to 55 in 2002.

"Inevitably, the projected job numbers associated with these projects is somewhat lower than applied previously for job-intensive investments," the agency's statement said.

Mr Dorgan pointed to flagship investments secured over the year such as Google, Overture and eBay, noting that that were "based on knowledge and the way we use it".

He also highlighted ABB's establishment of a global research centre in Dundalk in Co Louth and expansion in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre by HVB Bank and Pfizer as evidence of the Republic's move towards qualitative rather than quantitative inward investment.

The end-year figures show that 23 IDA companies expanded their operations in 2003, while the agency approved 39 new research and development projects worth €100 million.

Mr Dorgan is expecting "further major new investments of this type" to emerge in the new year within pharmaceuticals, medical technology and other research-driven areas.

"We have come through a global downturn very well," he said, noting that almost almost 40 per cent of the new jobs created in 2003 will pay salaries of at least €37,000.

Mr Dorgan said he was also "encouraged" by progress in attracting investment to regional locations such as Athlone and Waterford, but acknowledged that greater progress on infrastructure would be required before areas outside Dublin seeking such investment could truly compete with the capital for such projects.