Government plan to attract foreign direct investment will benefit Donegal
A new IDA blueprint for attracting Foreign Direct Investment was launched this week and Donegal stands to benefit from the planned approach, according to Donegal North East Fianna Fáil TD Niall Blaney. 03/03/10Horizon 2020 was launched by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan TD, and sets out direct policy strategies to attract overseas investment.
It aims to achieve 105,000 new jobs through foreign direct investment by 2014, with 50 per cent of investment going to locations outside Dublin and Cork.
Welcoming the initiative, Deputy Blaney said; “I am glad that one of the key steps in the IDA plan is to support regional development. It is vital that rural counties like Donegal receive all the available supports for job creation.”
“The aim of the Horizon Plan is to get all the Government agencies - the IDA, the higher education institutes, the existing multinational base, and indigenous entrepreneurs - to work together with a united aim, to attract foreign investors into Ireland.”
“We must improve our competitiveness, maintain our tax regime, enhance our broadband structure, continue to build on our infrastructure, build on the quality education system to ensure that we have graduates in the emerging areas, and ensure that regulation is strong but flexible enough to maximise job creation possibilities.”
“More than 140,000 jobs are directly created by foreign direct investment in Ireland right now, with an extra 100,000 to support those companies. Donegal, with the development of Project Kelvin in particular, will be perfectly positioned to host companies who are new to Ireland.”
“Among the ten steps in Horizon 2020 is a commitment to targeting new emerging and small technology companies. Donegal, with the help of the CoLab in LYIT, is already successfully fostering growth in this area and this plan can only help us build on that.”
“At the meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly last month In Cavan I met with the US special economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, and I spoke with him about the potential for growth in Donegal. He is working to foster trade and investment links between America and Northern Ireland, and this is significant because the US does not have a special envoy solely focused on the economy in any other country in the world. Given the special position that Donegal is in on the Border, I have invited him to the country to see how his plans and ours can be intertwined. He has given me an undertaking to visit at the next available opportunity and I look forward to meeting with him again and working with him to secure jobs for Donegal,” concluded Niall Blaney TD.
