McGrath accuses IDA of Dublin jobs bias

Large swathes of the country are being ignored by foreign investors with 12 counties recording no IDA-sponsored visit by an overseas investor for the first quarter of this year.

New figures provided by the Minister for Jobs, Innovation and Enterprise, Richard Bruton, show that out of 89 IDA sponsored visits between January and the end of March this year, 53 were in in Dublin.

Fianna Fáil Finance spokesman, Michael McGrath TD, claimed the figures are “further evidence of the Government’s failure to put in place balanced regional development at a time when towns and villages are dying on their feet”.

“The statistics show that there is a striking bias in favour of bringing companies to Dublin. The figures show that 60% of the visits this year were to Dublin. It is a remarkable statistic.”

The counties that failed to record an IDA-sponsored overseas investor visit in the first quarter were Carlow, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

Cavan, Kilkenny, Meath, and Westmeath recorded one visit, and Clare, Donegal and Wicklow two.

The second most popular county for foreign investors to visit was Cork with 10 visits, Limerick recording six and Galway four visits.

The figures represent a continuance of Dublin dominating foreign direct investment visits, with the 2013 figures showing that Dublin accounted for 55% of 180 of the 326 IDA-sponsored visits.

Deputy McGrath obtained the statistics through a written Dáil response and said the IDA had a very good track record of attracting foreign direct investment into Ireland “but it is failing by and large to bring overseas investors to counties outside Dublin”.

He said: “The IDA has a very important role to play in influencing overseas investors and inform them of the strengths of locating outside Dublin where it is much less costly to do business with lower property prices for instance.”

Mr McGrath said the failure to ensure a greater proportion of foreign direct investment visits around the country “only leads to a two-tier economy”. Cork was punching below its weight when it came to attracting foreign direct investment .

Separate figures received by Deputy McGrath show that Dublin-based IDA supported firms received €198.2m, or 32% of the €626.9m IDA grand aid between 2006 and 2012.

A spokesman for the IDA said: “A county- by-county breakdown of job creation trends, as is being used here, and is used by others wishing to undermine the IDA’s work in the regions, reveals virtually nothing about how Ireland is performing in attracting foreign direct investment.”

He said: “Site visits are in no way indicative of IDA’s efforts to market a region to overseas investors or indeed of IDA’s activities in that area.

“IDA executives from our 19 offices across the world are marketing our regions in their own marketplaces on a daily basis.”

He pointed out that total employment at IDA client companies is now at the highest level since the foundation of the state investment agency.

He added: “IDA Ireland works extremely hard to make its client companies aware of the opportunities that exist outside of Dublin.

The spokesman said: “A large part of IDA’s regional work includes working with our existing base of companies to sustain and increase their levels of investment. This work is vitally important but is rarely acknowledged or picked up in these statistics.

“The final decision on where to locate an investment ultimately resides with the client company, despite IDA efforts and financial support available in some regional locations.

He said: “IDA Ireland continues to make its clients aware of opportunities to locate their businesses outside of Dublin and Cork. This includes designing itineraries for prospective clients in which IDA executives will drive prospective investors around the country to meet with recruitment and property professionals in the regions, as well as existing clients.”