Foreign direct investment boost for Ireland

Ireland significantly outperformed the rest of Europe in attracting foreign direct investment last year.

According to the 2012 Foreign Direct Investment Report from Foreign Direct Intelligence — a London-based subsidiary of the Financial Times Group — Ireland attracted 186 investment projects from overseas during 2011, up 22% on 2010 levels.

While the number of investments ranked Ireland seventh for foreign direct investment in Europe last year, in percentage growth terms the country was second only to the Netherlands.