It has been another good year for the IDA with record levels of job creation and no sign that the surge in employment will slow in the year ahead. In 1999, over 17,500 new jobs were created in foreign-owned companies with the assistance of the IDA. Better still, the cost per job to the taxpayer is only half of what it was a decade ago.
Despite these achievements, there remains some cause for concern primarily in relation to the manner in which the Dublin, Eastern and Southern regions are continuing to outperform others in terms of job creation. The situation in the less developed Objective 1 region - the 13 counties embracing the Border, Midland and West regions - is particularly acute; while net employment surged in the prosperous regions of the State, it actually fell by over 1,000 in the Objective 1 areas.
Mr Sean Dorgan, the IDA's chief executive, is right to sound a cautionary note about the increasing regional disparities. The National Development Plan should help to ease these by providing much-needed infrastructure - principally better transport and telecommunications links - in these areas. The increasing tax breaks available in these regions will also help. But the IDA may, itself, need a sharper regional focus. At a time when employment is booming the State can afford to be more discriminating. A stronger, more concerted effort may be required to generate employment in towns like Sligo, Letterkenny or Athlone.
After years in which this State was grateful for every job it could secure, the IDA now faces the challenge of redefining itself in the changed economic landscape of modern Ireland. The agency has performed heroically and its impact on the economy is widely acknowledged; last year, for example, IDA backed companies generated some £28 billion in sales and £26 billion in exports. But the agency must now change its mindset away from a purely employment-driven agenda and towards the creation of good value-added sustainable employment. The last year has seen something of a shake-out in lower value jobs with some 9,000 job losses, mainly in traditional industries.
To its credit, the IDA is now targeting higher value, higher paid employment; about 25 per cent of all new jobs negotiated last year paid more than £25,000 per year. With economic growth expected to continue, albeit at a more modest pace, for the next decade this kind of approach must be developed and expanded - if the IDA is to retain its pivotal role in this economy. Otherwise, awkward questions will continue to be asked about the long-term feasibility of the IDA itself, at a time when industry and business often cannot find suitable candidates for the jobs which are available.