As a country, we have been for a long time — and still are — extremely attractive to foreign direct investment (FDI).

The appointment of Martin Shanahan to lead the IDA comes at a time of global economic change, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

ENDA Kenny, writing in a national newspaper on Monday, painted a picture of the Irish economy so unrecognisably rosy that I had to pinch myself and check the unemployment figures to be sure we’re still in crisis.

FACED with a barrage of criticism when it chose a panda as one of it’s 12 female “faces of the year 2011”, a haughty BBC spokesperson wondered what all the fuss was about.

IRISH and foreign-owned companies added less than 4,000 net jobs in the international tradable goods and services sectors in the 10 years 1999-2008, as overall employment grew by more than half a million.