Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of jobs that have been created in each county in the State by Industrial Development Agency companies who were new to Ireland in 2013. [12291/14]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Delivery of the Government's enterprise policy is seriously uneven, with the development of a very clear two-tier economy. People in the Border area, the midlands and the west are far more likely to be in poverty, to be unemployed and to have someone in their family emigrate. The last census saw a population increase but these areas saw a population decrease. The National Youth Council of Ireland reckoned that 51% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 would consider emigration but Irish Rural Link said nine out of ten of the people to whom it spoke were considering emigration.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The question asked does not relate to that specific issue. It asked about the counties to which new first-time investments by IDA were attracted.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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It is all the one. It is Government policy.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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New investment in respect of the IDA probably represents perhaps 0.25% of employment in the whole country, so focusing on a tiny proportion does not address the whole issue of regional development, something to which we can return.

The Forfás annual employment survey reports on the numbers of jobs gained and lost in the enterprise development agencies' client companies. During 2013, there were 13,367 gross new jobs - 7,071 net new jobs - created in IDA client companies. This is the fourth consecutive year of jobs growth in IDA client companies.

Details of the number of jobs created in IDA client companies during 2013 on a county-by-county basis are set out in the tabular statement. Information is aggregated on a county basis but because information is provided by client companies on a confidential basis for statistical purposes only, it is not possible for reasons of client confidentiality to provide a breakdown in respect of individual companies to identify those that were new to Ireland in 2013.

During 2013, Ireland won 164 foreign direct investment projects, 78 of which were companies investing in Ireland for the first time, representing a rise of 18% on the previous year. First time investments were secured from corporations across the portfolio, including from Qualcomm, Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Regeneron, Huawei, FireEye, Grifols, Alexion and Acorn Direct Marketing. There was also a strong presence of emerging fast growth companies in the investment wins in 2013, including Squarespace, 10gen, Culture Translate, AdRoll, Storage Craft, Qualtrics, Zendesk, Quantcast and Etsy.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

During 2013, of the 78 new name investments won only some of which were announced, by far the greatest number of investments were for Dublin with 55 investments. The spread around the rest of the country was eight for Cork, five for Limerick, two for Waterford and one each for Cavan, Louth Wexford, Galway, Kerry, Westmeath, Laois and Sligo. The 78 new name investments won by IDA Ireland in 2013 have potential to create approximately 3,500 jobs over a three to five year period. The actual job delivery from these projects will be measured in the Forfás annual employment surveys over that same period.

In order to complement IDA's efforts to attract more fast-growing emerging companies to Ireland and to focus on generating projects from small and medium sized enterprises, the Government announced the Succeed in Ireland initiative in the 2012 Action Plan for Jobs. Many of the projects delivered so far by the initiative will be located in regional towns which would not ordinarily be considered by large companies of the type usually attracted by IDA and the same is true of many of the projects currently in the pipeline. To date, 14 projects have been approved under the scheme with the potential to create 341 jobs.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The new way questions are formulated makes it very difficult for a Minister to give an answer and for a Deputy to ask a question. Everybody is rushing to get his or her words out and it is not conducive to proper debate.

The Minister said the question I asked is different from the written one. They are one and the same because, as the Minister said, FDI only produces a small proportion of the actual jobs in society. That is a given and an argument we have been making. New companies make up a smaller proportion. Most of the FDI jobs are come from existing companies which are expanding. If we do not get new companies into certain areas, they will not have the ability to create new jobs in the future.

Some 68 jobs were created in County Meath last year while approximately 550 were created in County Kildare, 240 in County Mayo and 200 odd in County Louth. County Kildare now has ten times the number of IDA jobs compared to County Meath. There is a yawning gap across the State between certain sections of society in regard to where the jobs are going.

The original objective in the Action Plan for Jobs was that 50% of jobs would be outside Cork and Dublin but we saw how this collapsed to 23% in 2012. Granted there was a small increase last year but this is not-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy. I will come back to you.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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If we want to have a debate about regional development, we have to focus on the competitive advantage of a region. Having the debate about how we develop a regional strategy in the way the Deputy seeks to focus, which is on new emerging companies which, as he knows, are predominantly in the digital space, the expectation is that they will get a regional spread and that there will be one in different towns and villages but that is not a realistic expectation. To develop an enterprise strategy for a region, one must look at where the strengths are. One of the reasons we are doing very well regionally this year is that we have developed food, tourism and strong sectors will a traditional connection to regional areas.

The Deputy's question wants to look at the 78 new name companies but, as I indicated, they are predominantly in the very high-tech sector. The spread is 55 in Dublin, eight in Cork, five in Limerick, two in Waterford and one each in Cavan, Louth, Wexford, Galway, Kerry, Westmeath, Laois and Sligo.

These are very welcome additions and we seek to achieve a spread based upon them, but a regional strategy must be built on much more than that and must include developing entrepreneurship within that region in areas where that region can build a long-term sustainable capability. That is the debate on which we need to focus as well as the important strategic nature of foreign direct investment.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate any jobs that come into the country in these straitened times but a business typically wants a skilled workforce, an infrastructure and an ability to make a profit. In most parts of the country that exists. What we need in the areas that do not have those is Government attention focused on providing those into the future. Government direction is also needed. Up until now certain Governments gave direction to the IDA to provide jobs in certain areas. The Government's Action Plan for Jobs contained a direction for a 50% target for foreign direct investment outside those areas. Has the Minister given up on that? He is saying it is impossible to give direction, that foreign direct investment will go where it will go, but on another level he is saying he is going to give direction. Which is it?

Irish financial services went to locate in the docks area because the Government directed them down there, and the clustering that has happened in the medi-tech sector in the west and in the pharmaceuticals sector in the south took place because those clusters were initiated by Government policy. We need an even distribution of these jobs.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Deputy. We must make progress.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The target for foreign direct investment is 50% outside Dublin and Cork. It is not a specific regional target of so much investment here, there and yonder because that is not realistic. It has not been possible to achieve this target but this year we improved on last year so we are heading in the right direction.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Therefore, the Minister agrees with me that there is the ability to provide these targets and such direction.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Regional aid is one of the tools we use to try to achieve a greater spread. We give greater grant support to an overseas investor in certain parts of the country than to those in others, and that has been a conscious policy to try to spread the investment more widely. We also introduced the Connect Ireland initiative, which is an adjunct to the traditional way the IDA does business, and it builds on community connections within regions. We believe that has potential and it is yielding 14 projects with the potential to create-----

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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That was a private sector initiative. It had nothing to do with the Minister.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Yes, but it is supported by State money. There is State allocation of funds to any successful connector. That is the way it works.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The idea came from a private individual and fair dues to him, but the Minister should not be taking the credit for it.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Calleary, this is Deputy Tóibín's question.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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We are supporting with public money a scheme developed by a private individual and there is nothing wrong with that. I will take ideas from anyone. I will take them from the Deputy.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister takes the credit for everything.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The issue of clusters is very valid. We seek to build clusters around particular sectors, be it in the food sector or in the medical devices sector, and the latter sector is a good example. It is regionally spread. Deputy Naughten will know that because he lives within an area where the medical devices sector is very strong. We seek to build clusters in regions as well.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you, Minister. We must move on to the next question. It is in the name of Deputy Naughten and the same time limits will apply.