Major variation in success levels of IDA job creation in counties across State

VARIATIONS IN the level of job creation associated with IDA Ireland across different counties have emerged in figures supplied by Minister for Jobs and Enterprise Richard Bruton in response to a Dáil question.

A table of the jobs created in the five years from 2007 to 2011 inclusive shows that Co Cavan, for example, got between three and 59 jobs a year, whereas Co Limerick secured between 163 and 298 jobs annually in the same period. The IDA gave €450 million in grants over the five years.

Between 128 and 317 jobs were created annually in Co Westmeath whereas Co Leitrim secured between four and 65 jobs a year.

On a regional basis, the midlands received between 176 and 401 new jobs annually, whereas in the southeast the number of new jobs ranged between 315 and 1,143 a year. In the northeast, the new jobs ranged between 71 and 220 a year, whereas in the west the annual job creation level varied from 539 to 1,065.

The information was provided by the Minister in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin spokesman on jobs and enterprise Peadar Tóibín.

IDA Ireland said last night that one of the “main items” it “encounters in encouraging investment into locations outside of the large urban centres is the desire of investors to locate in areas with large population bases, typically in excess of one million people”.

The statement added: “IDA’s regional strategy is to promote investment, where possible, to key regional locations outside of Dublin and Cork.”

Commenting on the figures, Mr Tóibín said: “The support offered by the IDA to various counties does not need appear to follow any strategy or logic. The Border counties and the southeast have the highest levels of unemployment and job losses yet received the least support.”

He said that, of the Border counties, “in three out of the five years Cavan, Monaghan and Leitrim received no IDA grants and the IDA brought no companies to visit Cavan or Leitrim last year and only brought one company to visit Monaghan”.

“In the southeast, with the highest levels of unemployment of any region, Carlow went two years without any grant support out of the last five years and Kilkenny went four years out the of the last five without any support,” he said.

Mr Tóibín added that the IDA and Mr Bruton needed to develop “an objective, equitable strategy to target job growth to those areas most impacted by unemployment and job losses”.