Job loss concerns overstated, says IDA chief

Ireland remains an attractive location for manufacturing employment and a spate of job losses from multinational groups does not represent the emergence of an exceptional trend, IDA Ireland said yesterday.

Seán Dorgan, chief executive of the inward investment agency, said the effect of recent job cuts at employers such Pfizer in Cork had been exaggerated and Ireland remained a competitive location for international groups.

"We're on the right track. The sky is not falling in, definitely," Mr Dorgan said after the publication of the IDA annual report for 2006.

"We think it has been overstated. We believe the underlying facts don't support that. The trend of job losses has been downward over the last five years. Now, it could change this year, but we do not see anything happening that is different from the norm."

IDA Ireland said in its report that the number of people employed by multinationals rose by 3 per cent last year to 135,5000. New capital investments were worth €2.6 billion, and research and development investment reached €470 million. There were 39 greenfield projects and 32 expansion projects.

The body, which received €131.22 million from the exchequer last year, paid out €96.69 million in grants to multinational employers, up from €44.63 million in 2005. Its operating surplus rose to €51.78 million from €44.63 million.

IDA chairman John Dunne said the rate of job attrition in overseas companies had fallen to 5.9 per cent in 2006 from 12.8 per cent in 2001. "The loss of a job is worrying for any individual, but experience tells us that employment prospects are good for the people affected. We need not be unnerved nationally by what is a familiar experience for the Irish economy," he said.

Mr Dorgan said almost a third of site visits this year were in respect of prospective manufacturing projects, many of them in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. "We are confident that a number of these visits will lead to new investments over coming months."

Asked whether he knew of any cases where big employers planned to cut jobs in Ireland, he said: "I don't know of any imminent bad news at all. At times reviews are going on that actually have a favourable outcome."

While citing progress in the transformation of multinational business here to more sophisticated activity, Mr Dorgan said he had pointed out to the Government that electricity costs were "significantly" out of line with international markets.

"We haven't got the right results. We have electricity prices that have moved out of line. And we haven't got a long-term assurance on supply. So if we've got the wrong result, is the system right?"

Mr Dorgan said the National Development Plan should be implemented in full. "We've been making good progress on aspects of infrastructure, roads in particular; we're getting there," he said.

"There are still some issues in terms of Dublin airport . . . We know that the plans in place for Dublin airport are the right ones and they deserve really all the support they can get."