Attracting foreign investors to towns ‘challenge’ for IDA

Convincing international investors to consider locations outside of Dublin and other large urban areas remains a challenge, the IDA has admitted.

However, the State agency has insisted it is making every effort to showcase regional Ireland abroad, following criticism that rural towns are not seeing enough of the record foreign direct investment.

In today’s Irish Examiner, Martin Shanahan, chief executive of the body tasked with attracting foreign companies, writes that while he is “acutely aware” of the need for jobs from foreign companies in rural towns, “it remains a challenge to convince international investors to consider locations outside of Dublin and the larger urban areas”.