IDA targets 75,000 new FDI jobs as it navigates global challenges

Strategy aims for half of investments to be in regional locations

Semiconductors, AI and digitisation, sustainability and health are key pillars identified in the strategy for growth. Picture: Denis Minihane.

IDA Ireland is targeting the creation of 75,000 new jobs over the next five years as it aims to navigate rising global protectionism led by the US.

The State's foreign direct investment authority hopes to secure 1,000 investments by new and existing multinationals here by 2030 delivering €250bn to the Irish economy.

The strategy also calls for the upskilling of 40,000 workers and targets a regional balance with 550 investments planned for outside Dublin.

'Adapt Intelligently: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Innovation, 2025-29' aims to build on its previous success in transforming the Irish economy. In the past decade, direct employment by multinationals rose 55% to more than 300,000. FDI now accounts for 11% of all jobs, 70% of exports and 75% of corporation tax receipts.

Semiconductors, AI and digitisation, sustainability and health are key pillars identified in the strategy for growth.

However, the document acknowledges that Ireland faces headwinds over the next five years including changing demographics with people living longer and fertility rates dropping.

"Global value chains are adjusting in response to renewed industrial policy, heightened protectionism, and intense geopolitical competition," the document states.

New President Donald Trump has launched a rapid path to bring more manufacturing back to the US threatening a range of tariffs on countries and will likely remain a key challenge for bodies like the IDA.

"Our new strategy recognises the scope and scale of our clients’ activities, their transformational journeys, as well as the complexities of the global landscape in which IDA Ireland and our clients now operate," IDA CEO Michael Lohan said.