Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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69. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to set out in tabular form the value of capital investment projects and grants under way or approved for funding by his Department, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39659/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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IDA Ireland provides capital funding to client companies to support investments and job creation and runs a capital property programme to attract and facilitate investment throughout the country.

The total grant payments on a county basis for the period 2011-2014 are provided in the following table 1. Figures for 2015 will be available in 2016.

In the period 2011-2014, there were a total of 653 investments approved by IDA Ireland, not all of which will receive grant support. In 2014, 197 investments were approved equating to a 20% increase on 2013.

In its mid-year statement, IDA Ireland announced that Ireland continued to win a strong share of global investment for regional locations in the first half of 2015, despite intense international competition and economic uncertainty in Europe. In the first half of the year, IDA Ireland approved 110 investment projects, which will lead to the creation of 9,000 direct jobs this year and over future years as the companies gradually roll-out their investment plans. In the same period in 2014, there were 100 projects leading to 8,000 jobs. Among the companies publicly announcing investment plans in Ireland in the first half of 2015 were Apple, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Northern Trust, Facebook , Agora Publishing, Viagogo, Zimmer, ABEC Inc. and Zalando. Ireland is also investing in a €150 M Regional Property Programme over a five-year period to ensure that there is sufficient availability of utility-intensive strategic sites, quality business parks and advance building solutions to attract investment in to the regions.

So far this year, advance technology buildings have been completed in both Waterford and Athlone and the construction of buildings in Sligo, Castlebar and Tralee is at an advanced stage of procurement. Next year, IDA Ireland will continue this programme of advance builds with projects in Galway, Dundalk and Limerick. Investment in IDA Ireland’s portfolio of business and technology parks around the country is also underway.

Each year, Science Foundation Ireland allocates in the region of €150 million to €160 million of research funding to researchers across Ireland’s higher education system based on open, internationally peer-reviewed calls for proposals. This funding makes up part of the capital expenditure of my Department. SFI research awards are typically multi-annual awards (i.e. drawn down over a period of 2 to 5 years depending on the nature of the Call).

All SFI research funding is channelled to designated research performing organisations in Ireland – universities, colleges and other research institutes and this is reflected in the county by county breakdown provided below. The €911.9 million of capital funding presented below relates to all “live awards” on the SFI system (i.e. funding for projects that are underway but not yet completed). [Note: the data in the following table 2 include a number of awards for projects that were active earlier in 2015 which have now been completed.]

There are two capital projects funded through my Department by the North/South Interreg Programme:

County Donegal: Contribution to construction costs of Science Park in Letterkenny Institute of Technology €1.013 m

County Leitrim: Contribution to construction costs of Enterprise Centre in Carrick on Shannon €0.267 m

Funding approvals to Enterprise Ireland client companies in 2015 are set out in the following table 3. Small grants include feasibility grants, consultancy grants, new market research grants, small training grants and some key manager grants. Payments to Enterprise Ireland client companies in 2015 are set out in the following table 4. Payments relate to approvals made in 2015 but also in previous years.

Table 1: IDA grant payments by county

Table 2: SFI grants by county.

Table 3: Approvals to Enterprise Ireland Clients in 2015

Table 4: Payments to Enterprise Ireland Clients in 2015

Note does not include infrastructural clients, Employment Subsidy Scheme Recipients or Community Enterprise Centre Recipients.