Ireland number 1 for FDI

Barry O'Leary, chief executive, IDA

Barry O’Leary, chief executive, IDA

Ireland ranks as the number one global destination for jobs by inward investment per capita, according to IBM’s Global Location Trends Report.

The new survey reveals Ireland is placed ahead of other leading Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) locations including Singapore, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

About 170 jobs per 100,000 citizens were created as a result of foreign businesses investing here, according to the report.

Despite the recession and dire state of the public finances, Ireland has moved up one place to ninth for estimated total jobs in research and development. The country was also placed 10th by estimated jobs in business support services – a massive leap as Ireland was unranked last year. Dublin, which also did not make the cut last year, was ranked 15th place in the list of cities by number of investment projects.

Chief executive of IDA Ireland Barry O’Leary welcomed the report and said Ireland’s first place ranking for jobs by inward investment will inject renewed confidence into Ireland’s reputation.

This positive impact is further enhanced with top ten rankings for both estimated total jobs in Research and Development (R&D) and for jobs in business support services,” he continued.

IDA’s strategy for the next 10 years, ‘Horizon 2020’, focuses on employment intensive services and R&D. O’Leary said that as part of the strategy, IDA is committed to building on Ireland’s existing reputation as a leading location for these sectors and the results of this focus can be seen in recent investment announcements in service activities from Merck, D&B, Lilly, Axa, eBay, Paypal and Stream Global Services.

Roel Spee, global leader with Plant Location International, the IBM unit which produced the report said the report will prove important to attract and retain business in times of economic uncertainty.