IDA aims to double jobs for regions

After five record-breaking years in job creation, IDA Ireland have now turned their focus firmly to areas outside the main cities, writes Kay Kevlihan.

Objective 1 regions consisting of the west, midlands and border counties, will benefit substantially from this new impetus. These regions, which account for a quarter of the national labour force, will take 50% of jobs generated by new greenfield project, doubling the present level of 25%. Major restructuring is now taking place within IDA ensure its success. Senior key management will be accountable, not alone for getting companies to locate in Ireland, but for ensuring that more than half of all new jobs from future greenfield projects are located in Objective 1 regions.

The latest announcement of intensification of IDA's regional policy will not alone take pressure off Dublin but give new hope to these regions. Galway and the west have already benefited from this regional policy, which has been in operation on a less intensive basis for two years. Almost 8,000 people are now working in foreign-owned industries in Galway, the big gains in areas such as medical devices, pharmaceuticals, internationally traded services and electronics and engineering. The latest announcement that Xerox Corporation is to create 1,900 jobs by the year 2003 in Dundalk is an great achievement as China and other Asian economies were looked at before the company choose Ireland. Sean Dorgan, Chief Executive of IDA said there was a need to bring "a better mix of industry sectors and higher value industries" to some locations, particularly the locations that have not seen the emergence of the modern industries. "This new structure recognises the critical need to deliver more to the regions and to integrate and co-ordinate the focus of everybody in the organisation on our regional development mandate", said Sean.

He continued "Over the past year IDA has examined the competitive strengths and weaknesses of locations in Ireland and the mix of IDA business in each region. There are significant variations in the economic impact of industries from region to region," he said. "We have looked at industrial balance from the point of view of average salary, the percentage of graduates employed, the mix within the manufacturing sector and between manufacturing and services and the level of R and D work. From now on we will measure our performance not only against job creation results but also by monitoring the regional distribution and the quality of projects, as indicated by the level of salaries, the skills' content in companies and the range of additional functions beyond the core manufacturing or service activity".

During 1998 IDA negotiated sixty six new greeenfield investments out of a total of 243 individual projects. It is expected that the number of new jobs created by the IDA for the current year will be in the region of 15,000, maintaining the same level of projects but with more sharply focused regional policy.

IDA chairman, Denis Hanrahan, admits that a better balance in job creation by overseas companies is needed right across the country. "We want to see the Objective 1 regions double the proportion of jobs from greenfield IDA supported businesses. This means increasing the Objective 1 regions' share of jobs from the present level of 25% to 50% of jobs in new greenfield projects."