IDA - Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Agency

IDA Ireland is the Irish government's FDI agency. The function of IDA is to contribute to Ireland's economic development by securing new investment from foreign and multinational companies and by enhancing the mandate of the strong base of 1,000 overseas companies already located in Eire in a variety of business sectors including:

• Life sciences (pharmaceutical and medical technologies)
• Information communications technology (ICT)
• International financial services
• Globally traded business
• Clean technology

Business generation of Irish FDI

IDA has built a strong reputation, since its inception in 1969, of having the ability to identify the business sectors that uniquely match Ireland's offering to foreign investors. In addition, IDA has a history of securing first-mover advantage through identification of emerging business opportunities

Ireland as a base for top-tier investment FDI

Ireland as a base for FDI has changed from being primarily open for manufacturing to becoming the home to top-tier investments from the world's leading corporations. Global services, research, development, innovation and high-tech manufacturing are now significant emerging sectors investing in Ireland.

IDA focuses on encouraging collaboration between academic institutions and corporations, improving infrastructure and working closely with sister enterprise agencies for the fast implementation of change in order to generate further FDI and to ensure existing clients continue to develop their operations in the country.

Ireland's attributes for FDI

Global competition for FDI is relentless and it is the responsibility of IDA to ensure Ireland continues to attract premium mobile foreign investment and high-end value-added investments in support of national and regional economic development.

Despite increased international competition for FDI Ireland continues to compete successfully in a global market due to the following attributes:

• Pro-enterprise culture
• Low corporate tax
• A young, highly educated and highly skilled workforce
• Excellent infrastructure
• Coherent national enterprise policy
• Multi-lingual and multi-cultural talent pool

Global, household-brand FDI for Ireland

Many large multinational companies have chosen Ireland as the ideal base for their European headquarters. IDA has a broad range of the world's leading companies in a variety of sectors including some of the world's leading brand names. Facebook, GSK, Pfizer, Coca Cola, Microsoft, Wyeth, Intel, CITI, AOL and Analog Devices are just some of IDA's 1,000 client companies.

A breakdown of IDA's client companies shows 47% originate from the US while 42% are European in origin. The remainder of IDA's clients hail from the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world.

IDA locations

IDA Ireland is headquartered in Dublin. The agency also has nine regional offices in Sligo, Letterkenny, Dundalk, Cavan, Galway, Cork, Waterford, Athlone and Limerick.

IDA has a network of overseas offices in order to develop relationships within our target markets and to gather the best information and intelligence while establishing strong networks with potential investors. IDA's overseas offices are located in:

• Germany (Frankfurt) covering Israel, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Eastern Europe, Greece, Germany and Turkey
• France (Paris) covering France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg
• UK (London) covering Iceland, Finland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden, the UK and Denmark
• IDA's Asia-Pacific offices are located in Australia (Sydney), China (Shanghai), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), Taiwan (Taipei) and India (Mumbai)
• IDA's US offices are located in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Mountain View, California, Irvine, South California and Boston