Pace of IDA-sponsored investment and jobs slows amid geopolitical uncertainty

The flow of multinational investment into Ireland slowed in the first six months of 2024 amid an increasingly uncertain geopolitical backdrop.

Industrial development agency IDA Ireland’s latest half-year report said it supported 131 investments “enabling the future delivery” of 8,900 jobs so far this year.

This was down from the 139 investments and 12,072 jobs secured during the same period last year.

“We’ve probably passed peak globalisation,” chairman Feargal O’Rourke said, highlighting the increasing trend towards trade protectionism.

He said the key for Ireland was to deliver on its infrastructural plan amid high-profile deficits in housing, water and energy.

The State’s inward investment agency said Ireland’s proposition for FDI (foreign direct investment) remains strong despite “an increasingly challenging global operating environment”.

Investments announced during the six-month period include Pentagon Technologies whose facility in Dundalk will create 100 jobs; automotive fleet manager Element Fleet Management that is to set up a global leasing centre in Dublin creating 70 jobs; and Evernorth Health Services which is to locate a new innovation hub in Galway that will create 100 jobs

Motorola announced on Monday its new global research and development (R & ) centre in Cork with plans to recruit 200 staff.

“Ireland continues to be recognised as a highly stable and attractive location for global investment,” Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said at the launch of the report.

“Our country has a reputation for being agile, with an economy underpinned by a dynamic ecosystem of global companies, indigenous enterprise and academia working in collaboration,” he said.

IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan said: “Ireland’s proposition as a location for FDI investment remains strong.”

“Against the backdrop of an intensely competitive global environment and the proliferation of industrial policies, it is imperative that IDA Ireland continues to attract and win new investments whilst at the same time continuing to support existing clients in their investment endeavours across the twin transition of sustainability and digitalisation,” he said.