IDA secured 47 new firms in 2010

IDA-supported companies created almost 11,000 new jobs last year, more than double the number created in 2009.

Some 9,500 IDA-client jobs were lost during the same period.

In its end of year statement for 2010, the IDA said that it had succeeded in increasing the number of companies investing in Ireland for the first time while encouraging existing operations to expand and diversify their operations here.

Amongst those investing in Ireland for the first time in 2010 were D&B, Telefonica, Warner Chilcott, LinkedIn, EA, Riot Games, Webroot, FC Stone, Spencer Stuart, Fi-Tek, Genband, Synchronoss, Aspect, Streamserve and IIR.

The IDA secured 126 investments last year, against a turbulent global economic background which saw overall foreign direct investment declining by 8 per cent, according to the OECD.

A total of 47 companies invested in Ireland for the first time, up 20 per cent on 2009. Overall, IDA Ireland client companies created 10,897 new jobs in 2010, compared to 4,615 new jobs the previous year.

One central strand of the IDA's development strategy outlined in its strategy docuement Horizon 2020, is a focus on transforming and up-skilling the operations of companies that are already present in Ireland.

The IDA said that it is "encouraging" to see that a large number of existing clients announced expansion and diversification investments in 2010, involving skills uplift, technology uplift, R&D in products and processesor taking on new mandates in order to increase their Irish operations’ strategic importance within their parent corporations.

Companies that announced expansion and diversification investments in 2010 included, HP, SAP, Google, PayPal, eBay, AOL, Gala Games, Kellogg’s, Kostal, Eli Lilly, MSD, Stream Global Services, ServiceSource, Salesforce.com, Hertz and Accenture. International Financial Services firms expanding include Zurich, Axa, Citi, State Street, UnitedHealth Group, Allianz and Generali.

IDA Ireland chief executive Barry O’Leary said Ireland continued in 2010 to win significant foreign direct investment.

"Most encouraging is the substantial increase in the scale of these investments from many of the world’s leading companies. In the past year the job numbers within investments secured show a marked increase, with the average employment per investment double the 2009 level," he said. "Export led growth is feeding through in the employment portfolio of IDA’s clients, which created almost 11,000 new jobs in 2010, significantly up on the previous year’s total of 4,615."