By any yardstick the figures on job creation for 1995, reported yesterday by IDA Ireland, are very impressive. In the past year a record number of 11,500 new jobs were created in foreign owned companies, bringing total employment in IDA supported companies to almost 90,000. Even when the 4,900 job losses are included, the companies still managed to generate a net 6,500 new jobs a spectacular 29 per cent increase on 1994. The IDA can feel well pleased that it has already met its three year job creation target, one year ahead of schedule.
And there are few signs of an end to the boom. On the basis of the projects already signed up, the IDA is bullish about prospects for the coming year with its chief executive, Mr Kieran McGowan, predicting that last year's record figures can be surpassed. Its ambitious three year plan now envisages that foreign owned companies will create an averaged of 6,500 net jobs over the next three years. The only possible source of disappointment for the IDA is that a large majority of the new jobs were concentrated in Dublin and the eastern region. But given the intense competition for such investment between EU member states, the IDA's priority must be to secure the best projects, in the first instance.
The IDA is also entitled to feel well satisfied with the quality of foreign investment that it has attracted to Ireland. Companies like the Intel Corporation, which recently announced ambitious plans to site the European arm of its next major development in this state, and other companies in the electronics, software and health care areas, have demonstrated an admirable long term commitment to the Irish economy.
It appears that the pressure on the IDA to exercise much closer scrutiny of investment proposals, after a series of abrupt company closures, is paying dividends. It may be that the days of footloose foreign investment, which proved so expensive for the tax payer and so embarrassing for the IDA are finally drawing to a close. The success of the foreign owned companies in generating a significant number of jobs over a relatively short time span has been remarkable. But the rapid, and unpredictable pace of technological change in the computer and electronics sectors means that there could be severe job losses, as well as spectacular gains.
Ireland's success in securing some 14 per cent of all green field manufacturing investment in Europe is commendable. But the best means of protecting this market share is to ensure that Ireland has a dedicated skills pool which can keep pace with technological change. Mr McGowans's recent warning that high technology companies could face difficulty in recruiting suitably qualified workers unless "adjustments" are made to the educational system must be heeded by Government. The IDA has more than enough international competitors bearing down upon it as it looks for inward investment. It should not be disadvantaged by any deficiency in Ireland's educational system.