Inward investment increased by 10% in 2006

INWARD investment to Ireland increased by 10% last year, according to the latest Ernst & Young report.

It also revealed that the number of investment projects increased to 74 last year, dominated by the US and Britain. The US increased its number of investment projects from 41 to 42, while Britain increased by six to 16.

This level of investment from the US is the highest since 2000, and the highest from Britain since 1998.

The sectors represented continue to be focused on software, financial services and pharmaceutical, representing 39 of the projects, up from 26 in 2005.

Sinéad Munnelly, partner in Ernst & Young Ireland’s Transaction Advisory Service Group said: “Ireland’s inward investment growth continues to increase to levels we haven’t seen since the year 2000.”

The report shows that, overall, Europe continues to improve its amount of inward investment, with projects up by over 15% from 3,066 in 2005 to 3,531 in 2006, with western European countries being the principal beneficiaries.

Nigel Wilcock, regional development director at Ernst & Young said: “The rise in western Europe has been driven by an increase in investment projects from the US into Europe — up 22% from 813 in 2005 to 990 in 2006 — as well as a major hike in the number of projects originating from the UK, Switzerland and India.

“Although Europe, as a whole, is becoming increasingly reliant on service-related sectors, such as software and business services, more traditional industries — for example, Machinery & Equipment and Automotive — still managed to attract 227 and 226 new projects, respectively.”