Trade Promotion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West

I thank the Senator very much. On behalf of the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke, I am delighted to take this matter and to have the opportunity to reply to the Senator.
Foreign direct investment, FDI, continues to be one of the key components of the Irish economy. The Minister is determined that Ireland remains a leading location for FDI. The IDA's mandate is well-known and can be summarised as attracting and retaining mobile foreign direct investment to Ireland in support of well-paid employment opportunities across the country. The IDA's 2025-2029 strategy, Adapt Intelligently, aims to safeguard and grow Ireland's existing FDI alongside a continued focus on winning new investment. This dual focus on partnering with existing clients and attracting new first-time investors is an important context when considering trade development and market diversification. In this regard, the strategy seeks to build on the IDA's success to date, supporting continued long-term investment through the transformation of the existing client base and leveraging new opportunities associated with FDI growth drivers of AI and digital, semiconductors, sustainability and health. They echo the focus and ambition of the programme for Government in addition to the national strategy on semiconductors and the forthcoming life sciences strategy, which are all designed to underpin the future of these key sectors and position Ireland for new investment opportunities.
The IDA is retaining its focus on new growth opportunities across its core sectors and territories and continues to target investment from clients originating from North America, Europe, the UK and Asia-Pacific within technology, content, consumer and business services, international financial services, pharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals and food, medical technologies and engineering and the green economy. Market analysis shows that the majority, approximately 60%, of all Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, and Taiwan outward FDI is intra-Asia and approximately 60% of all FDI into Europe from the region originates in Singapore. Taiwan is a distant second. IDA Ireland actively manages the Taiwanese market from its Singapore office as part of its ASEAN market development plan. In this context, the IDA does not have any immediate plans to open an office in Taiwan and will continue to service the market from its regional office in Singapore.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-28