IDA rejects criticism from Government

CRITICISM of the Industrial Development Authority by Government ministers have been rejected by the investment promotion agency.

The authority has come under scrutiny after last week’s announcement of the loss of over 500 jobs with telephone giant Talk Talk in Waterford.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said yesterday that he was “unhappy” with the IDA.

Junior Minister Sean Sherlock said the authority needed to be “reined in” by the Government as its existing policy did little to create employment in small towns.

The IDA said yesterday that it was forced to focus its investment promotion in larger urban areas that appealed to foreign firms.

A spokeswoman stressed that it was not the case that regional areas in the country were competing with each other for investment, but that Ireland as a whole was battling with other countries to attract investment.

“We will prioritise areas of critical mass and that are within an hour or two drive of [business] gateways,” she said.

“We’re prioritising gateways at the moment. We have to focus efforts on places where investors will tend to want.”

Mr Sherlock said his concerns related to the IDA focusing too strongly on incentivising companies to locate in the gateways, the nine major urban or built-up areas targeted under plans.

He said the Government needed to “haul” the IDA in and identify their policies for small towns.

Mr Bruton said: “I’m not happy with the performance but I’m not here to bash any particular agency and say they are the ones to blame.

“The brutal truth is that the IDA were in working with Talk Talk earlier this year, they were talking about the needs of that company to strengthen its base. They were on the ball, they were alert. This isn’t a failing of the IDA that has brought about the disastrous announcement by Talk Talk,” he said.

“People are very impressed with the IDA but they want to see more and they want to see a more effective marketing of Waterford as a region and that’s what I want to see too,” Mr Bruton added.

Existing IDA policy is focused on attracting 50% of foreign investment in areas outside of Dublin and Cork.