Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
324. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the number of international IDA visits to regions over the past ten years, broken down by city and county and by year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16114/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraRegional development is a key focus of our Programme for Government and is central to the work of my Department and our enterprise development agencies. FDI has a significant impact in realising balanced regional growth, and investments by IDA Ireland client-companies consistently generate highly skilled jobs nationwide. IDA Ireland is continuing its strong commitment to regional development as one of four key strategic objectives of its current strategy, "Adapt Intelligently" and is targeting 550 of a total 1,000 investments, or 55%, in the regions over the period between 2025 and 2029. In 2025, the first year of the strategy IDA secured 323 investments, 183, or 57% of which were in regional locations.
IDA Ireland has a team dedicated to the delivery of investments, who work closely with colleagues overseas and in specialised sectors to secure investment to the regions. As the Deputy is aware, the availability of suitable property and strategic sites is a critical component of the regional value proposition and can be the key differentiator in investment decisions in the regions from both new and existing clients. In this regard, IDA facilitates sites visits for potential investors and IDA Ireland continues to collaborate closely with national and local stakeholders to foster the conditions necessary for enterprise, innovation, and job creation in the regions.
Reporting on site visits is available on a county basis only, and, as requested, the number of sites visits by international clients by county over the last ten years, is set out in the table below. These figures include visits by a multi-national company, where that company is considering new or expansionary investment activities in Ireland.
In interpreting the figures, it should be noted that potential clients may visit more than one county and may return to a location more than once and the figures being provided represent individual visits and therefore, may not be indicative of the number of companies that have visited. It should also be noted that site visits may not necessarily be a true measure of the overall level of FDI activity in a region or county and are only one measure of a company’s interest in a particular location and naturally, year-on-year, the number of visits to any location will vary.
I must also stress that, ultimately, individual investors decide which counties to visit, and where to locate their investments.
Table: IDA facilitated site visits by county between 2016 and 2025
|
County |
2025 |
2024 |
2023 |
2022 |
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
2016 |
|
Carlow |
7 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
Cavan |
2 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Clare |
19 |
21 |
40 |
22 |
20 |
16 |
28 |
13 |
22 |
18 |
|
Cork |
60 |
41 |
39 |
45 |
44 |
30 |
68 |
61 |
51 |
49 |
|
Donegal |
4 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
1 |
12 |
8 |
2 |
7 |
|
Dublin |
247 |
221 |
173 |
201 |
153 |
121 |
284 |
269 |
327 |
284 |
|
Galway |
41 |
34 |
38 |
40 |
31 |
21 |
46 |
54 |
62 |
42 |
|
Kerry |
3 |
6 |
8 |
13 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
10 |
9 |
3 |
|
Kildare |
5 |
5 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
14 |
8 |
10 |
8 |
|
Kilkenny |
6 |
8 |
10 |
3 |
6 |
8 |
13 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
|
Laois |
6 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
4 |
6 |
|
Leitrim |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
8 |
|
Limerick |
33 |
38 |
52 |
48 |
37 |
26 |
57 |
35 |
42 |
49 |
|
Longford |
3 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
6 |
|
Louth |
9 |
7 |
11 |
16 |
10 |
14 |
40 |
20 |
22 |
24 |
|
Mayo |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
7 |
5 |
|
Meath |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
8 |
|
Monaghan |
2 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
Offaly |
5 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
|
Roscommon |
3 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
|
Sligo |
6 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
29 |
15 |
18 |
20 |
|
Tipperary |
3 |
2 |
10 |
9 |
12 |
12 |
7 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
|
Waterford |
20 |
18 |
18 |
12 |
8 |
9 |
18 |
21 |
11 |
17 |
|
Westmeath |
19 |
18 |
13 |
20 |
20 |
14 |
22 |
22 |
42 |
36 |
|
Wexford |
6 |
6 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
|
Wicklow |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
|
Total site visits |
514 |
466 |
464 |
486 |
383 |
311 |
700 |
607 |
682 |
638 |
