IDA under fire as bulk of grants go to Dublin

The IDA gave 341 times more grant money to companies in Dublin than those in Kerry over the last five years, adding fuel to the notion that the authority is doing little to create employment outside the main population centres.

Figures released to Sinn Féin’s Peadar Tóibín by Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton show that between 2007 and 2011, the IDA gave out grants totalling almost €452 million.

But while Dublin got €158m and Cork received almost €90m, €461,000 was paid to Kerry-based companies and €370,000 to Laois companies.

The dearth of attention the IDA gives to less populated counties — in the main those which do not have a city — is further evidenced when one considers the number of client company visits the IDA has arranged for each.

For example, in Dublin between 2009-2011 there were 447. In Kilkenny there were two visits in 2009 and none in 2010 and 2011. In Leitrim, Roscommon and Longford there were none in any of the years.

On yet another negative note, in spite of the €450m investment through grants, the figures released to Mr Tóibín show while there were 45,512 jobs created between 2007-2011 in IDA client companies, there were 54,281 jobs lost.

Permanent employment in the companies now stands at 130,499 compared to 140,038 in 2007. One of the areas which appears to be faring worst is Tipperary North, where employment has fallen by 50% from 583 to 296.

On the flipside, employment in larger locations has actually increased in some cases. In Cork, for example, in spite of the recession, the number of people working in the IDA companies has risen from 20,645 to 21,522.

Peadar Tóibín said certain counties faced turning into “ghettos” if something was not done.

Sean Sherlock, the junior minister responsible for research and innovation, has been critical of the IDA for focusing too heavily on attracting foreign direct investment to large urban centres at the expense of everywhere else.

He said a degree of the disparity thrown up by the latest figures could be attributable to the larger population centres in the likes of Dublin, Cork and Limerick and also to the fact that potential employers often prefer to locate themselves close to those centres.

“However, I would like Forfas and the IDA to ensure there is balanced regional development and to address what is a seeming imbalance between the cities and the more rural regions,” he said.

For its part, the IDA said its regional strategy is to promote investment, “where possible to key regional locations outside of Dublin and Cork”.

“One of the main items the IDA encounters in encouraging investment into locations outside the large urban centres is the desire of investors to locate in areas with large population bases, typically in excess of 1 million people,” it said.

“Ireland has one metro region, the greater Dublin area, so to achieve balanced regional development the IDA focuses on promoting Gateway locations within each region as the areas of critical mass and highlights the opportunities provided by hub locations which are within commuting distances of these gateways,” it said.