Housing crisis and energy costs making Ireland less competitive in securing inward investment
The housing crisis, energy costs and security of supply is making Ireland less competitive in securing new investment into the country. Picture: Denis Minihane
The housing crisis, energy costs and security of supply is making Ireland less competitive in securing new investment into the country, a briefing document given to Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney has stated.
Mr Coveney received the 107-page ministerial brief which was presented to him when he moved to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in December following a Cabinet reshuffle.
It sets out an overview of the work of the department, current priorities and key issues.
The official document says every effort is being made to reduce potential job losses and that there are currently a number of significant employers being impacted by global trading conditions because of the war in Ukraine.
The warnings are listed in the document which discusses the Inward Investment Unit within the Innovation and Investment Division of the department that works closely with IDA Ireland.
The unit also operates a system of early warning reports for foreign direct investment clients that may be experiencing trading difficulties or may be ceasing operations in Ireland.
The document outlines the number of early warning reports for the first 11 months of 2022 is higher than the same period in 2021.
“The consumer technology sector and traditional manufacturing are two sectors with higher numbers of EWRs and the unit engages proactively with the IDA and other stakeholders to ensure assistance is available to impacted employees and every effort is made to reduce job losses,” it reads.
IDA’s targets for the period between 2021 and 2024 are to assist the creation of an additional 50,000 jobs, attract 800 new investment projects and to drive new climate, sustainability, research, development and innovation and training investments by multinationals in Ireland.
However, the note highlights “key competitiveness issues” in securing new investment into Ireland.
These include energy costs and security of supply, regional capacity, water and wastewater services capacity, speed of environmental licensing, planning and housing availability in key regional locations to facilitate labour market growth, and attraction of talent to the regions.
The budget for the department shows a gross allocation of €1.621bn for use in 2023, broken down between €1.035bn in current funding and €585.6m in capital funding.
The briefing note also states the climate targets set out for the industry to reduce emissions are “extremely challenging.”
Mr Coveney and the department are responsible under the climate action and low carbon development act to reduce industry on-site emissions by 20% by 2025 and 35% by 2030.
Emissions from the heating of non-residential buildings must be reduced by 20% by 2025 and 45% by 2030.
In order to reach these targets, the note states a number of measures would be needed, including a multi-billion euro investment by the State’s manufacturing sectors and all enterprises would be required in decarbonisation over the coming years.
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