Investments in IDA- supported companies in the south east have risen by 86% over the past five years, while those in the south west region rose by 37%, the state agency said.

The IDA is likely to face much more pressure in attracting inward foreign investment in the next few years, with its chief executive saying "significant downside risks" will exist over its next five-year strategic cycle.

The IDA has insisted regional job growth is a main priority but conceded it is "extraordinarily difficult" to persuade foreign firms to choose smaller towns as a base.

The number of IDA Ireland employees earning over €100,000 totalled 30 last year.

Mobile and cloud software technology provider Deem has decided to create the jobs in Ireland as it looks to tap into the European market.

The reliance of foreign firms on the economy has been further signalled with an IDA-backed management course aimed at training management for Irish subsidiaries of multinationals.

The IDA last November paid out €7.5 million for an 18-acre site at Collinstown, Leixlip, Co Kildare.

Based on several, generally used economic indicators, Ireland is an industrially advanced economy.

A total of 70 companies have invested in Ireland as a direct result of Brexit, the IDA has said.

The State agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment has backed bus lanes on Cork’s main street as part of the overall strategy to improve the city’s public transport system.

Almost two-thirds of properties owned by IDA Ireland are lying idle.

Fianna Fáil is calling on the IDA to do more to attract businesses to Ireland who are relocating post-Brexit.

IDA Chief Executive Martin Shanahan has said Ireland will see more robots being used in manufacturing over the next few years.

Cork is likely to remain an attractive investment location for overseas technology firms for the forseeable future, according to the IDA.

The number of people employed in IDA Ireland backed companies has reached its highest level ever.

Investment agency the IDA prepared a series of documents for its executives after multinational companies raised concerns over “constraints” and “clear market failures” in the residential property market.

The Irish Dental Association (IDA) says dental amalgam contains several metals including mercury.

The IDA has warned Ireland will see an erosion of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows if it takes its eye off the ball in terms of international competitiveness.

The Government has been accused of fuelling the “two-tier” economic recovery after it emerged more than half of all IDA Ireland site visits this year have been to the greater Dublin area while 10 counties have not been visited at all.

All the signs point to a continued tightening in Ireland’s labour market, in the urban centres in particular. But are employers adapting quickly enough?

The head of international financial services at the IDA has said there is no reason to doubt that Ireland will tap a “significant” dividend in terms of the number of finance jobs from UK-based banks relocating or expanding out of the UK because of Brexit.

Ireland and the Netherlands are understood to be leading the race to attract big name international broadcasters, such as CNN and National Geographic, needing to shift their EU operations from London in order to be able to continue broadcasting in Europe after Brexit.

Cork county councillors are demanding that senior IDA officials address their concerns about the lack of progress in establishing industries on 230 hectares of vacant land which the IDA owns at 14 locations around the county.