The recent spate of job cuts and factory closures across the multinational sector is not an "exceptional trend" and employment prospects in the economy remain good, chairman of IDA Ireland John Dunne said this morning.
In a statement accompanying the agency's 2006 annual report, Mr Dunne said: "These changes may reflect marketplace problems which individual companies face, changes in Irish conditions and costs, or the operation of global economic forces that have worked to our benefit over the past two decades."
"We need not be unnerved nationally by what is a familiar experience for the Irish economy," he said.
There has been growing concern at hundreds of job losses announced in the last six months, particularly in the high-tech sector.
The latest World Competitiveness Yearbookpinpointed a rapid rise in the cost of living and a decline direct inward investment as the reason for the Republic's fall from ninth to 25th place in terms of economic performance .
But Mr Dunne said the rate of job attrition in overseas companies in Ireland has fallen each year for the past five years, from a peak of 12.8 per cent in 2001 to 5.9 per cent in 2006.
"So long as we continue to win higher value investments, train our people for these new opportunities, and invest quickly in the needed infrastructure, we have nothing to fear from this transformation in activity," he added.
The IDA's annual report says that multinational companies now employ 135,500 people in the economy, up almost 3 per cent on 2005.
It estimates they spend about €15 billion on Irish payroll, material and services annually and contribute about €2.8 billion in corporation tax payments.
The IDA backed 125 new projects in 2006 of which 89 were outside the greater Dublin area, it said.
It supported 54 research and development projects in 2006 involving a total investment of almost €470 million, compared to €260 million in 2005.
Over 50 per cent of jobs in new IDA supported projects in 2006 have wage and salary levels in excess of €40,000 per annum, the report noted.
In addition to these direct benefits, Foreign Direct Investment has multiplier effects throughout the economy, creating demand for high skills, advanced business processes, and guiding beneficial national developments in education, science, telecommunications and other infrastructure, the IDA said.
The IDA's chief executive Sean Dorgan claimed recent reports that Ireland was no longer competitive for manufacturing investments are "misplaced".
Mr Dorgan said: "Manufacturing output continues to grow and generate valuable new jobs here, and almost one third of all site visits by potential investors to Ireland to date this year are in respect of manufacturing projects."