Agency on course for five-year jobs target

IDA IRELAND has said it remains on course to achieve its previously stated five-year target of over 100,000 new jobs by 2014, following a better-than-expected showing in 2010.

The agency, charged with attracting overseas investment to Ireland, said yesterday — as part of its 2010 results — that it won 126 foreign direct investments (FDI) last year, with nearly 11,000 new jobs being created.

The number of investments was up from 2009’s total of 119, while the new jobs figures marked a near 7,000 annual increase. The 11,000 new positions created also comfortably outweighed the IDA’s initial 2010 estimates of 7,000 jobs. Another highlight from yesterday’s figures was that 47 companies invested in Ireland for the first time last year, which represented an annual increase of 20%.

In terms of the outlook for 2011, the IDA said it is anticipating 134 FDIs and a further 10,000 new jobs. However, the agency is not ignoring the churn effect when job losses are taken into account.

As well as the 11,000 new jobs in 2010, IDA-supported companies shed a combined 9,545 staff. This, according to IDA Ireland chief executive Barry O’Leary, was skewed, slightly, with cost cutting decisions by companies like SR Technics and Dell taken in 2009 but not implemented until 2010.

Mr O’Leary said the agency was confident that the annual job loss figures could be reduced this year, on the back of Ireland improving its competitiveness levels. “Despite the period of global recession over the past two years, our value proposition to multinational firms — either operating here or choosing to hub in Ireland for the first time — remains one of the strongest in the world.

“The combined influence of Ireland’s increased competitiveness, commitment to our 12.5% corporate tax rate and quick and decisive measures taken by the Government to combat the challenging economic situation, has resulted in an excellent flow of foreign direct investment,” he said.

As part of its Horizon 2020 strategy document, published last year, the IDA targeted 105,000 new jobs and 640 new FDIs between 2010 and 2014 inclusive. Yesterday, the agency said the 2010 figures “provide strong grounds to be confident” that those targets would be achieved.