Foreign investment still strong

Ireland still ranks near the top of the developed world when it comes to attracting foreign investment, new figures show.

A solid share of jobs created through overseas investment were high-end research and development (R&D) positions, which previously has not been Ireland's strong suit.

However, the State has been overtaken by a number of developing nations in the NIB/OCO Monitor Investment Performance Index for 2007, falling from 10th to 14th position in a list of the world's top 30 economies.

Final-quarter 2007 figures released yesterday showed an increase in investment in the last three months of the year.

The index compares Ireland's performance at attracting inward investment compared to other nations. It is calculated by estimating the number of jobs created by inward investment as well as measuring capital investment adjusted for economy size.

The top half of the list is dominated by developing nations. In the developed world, Ireland lags behind only Australia when measuring the flow of global investment projects.

National Irish Bank chief economist Ronnie O'Toole said Ireland's continued strong performance in 2007 was not because we attracted a particularly high level of new jobs, but rather because the investment that firms were making for every job they created was much higher than in 2006. This indicated that the quality of jobs created in 2007 was very good.