News & Events

Minister Bruton leads 5-day IDA mission to USA

5-city FDI mission to East, South and Mid-West to target investments from world-leading and start-up companies in technology, life-sciences and financial services

29 April 2012

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, will depart on Sunday 29th April to lead a five-day, five-city investment mission to the East, South and Mid-West of the USA, to meet companies considering investing and creating jobs in Ireland.

The IDA mission to Boston, Raleigh, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Chicago will focus particularly on companies in the technology, health/life sciences and financial services sectors, and the Minister will meet 19 companies ranging from start-ups to multi-billion dollar world-leading companies.

During the five full days of the trip, the Minister, who will be accompanied by Barry O’Leary, CEO of IDA Ireland, as well as other officials, will meet 19 companies, including:

  • 9 technology companies, including 4 in software
  • 4 health/life-sciences companies
  • Companies also in the food, business services, aviation and financial services sectors
  • Companies with combined annual revenues of over $300billion and combined workforces of over 800,000 worldwide
  • Companies with operations already in Ireland as well as companies who may be considering investing here for the first time
  • Members of the US media

Before departing, Minister Bruton said:

“Foreign direct investment forms a key part of this Government’s strategy for growth and jobs. Multinational companies are responsible for 250,000 jobs and over €19billion of direct spend in our economy, and a string of announcements over recent weeks from world-leading companies including Apple and Mylan shows that these companies increasingly see Ireland as a location where they can invest and create jobs. Through the Action Plan for Jobs we are determined to build on this, and develop deeper relationships with more multinational companies to create more jobs”.

“During this busy week I will be meeting 19 companies from a wide range of sectors who are considering creating new jobs in Ireland. When I meet senior executives from multinationals like these, they are increasingly impressed by what Ireland has to offer as a gateway to the European market. They are interested to hear about all aspects of what Ireland has to offer, including our skilled workforce, our pro-business environment, our tax offering, our base of multinationals already here, and our relationship with Europe. I look forward to hearing their concerns and telling them that Ireland is open for business, open for investment, and my hope is that this will lead to more jobs created in Ireland in the near future”.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS

This is the eighth major trade/investment mission the Minister has travelled on since taking office, following:

  • Three IDA investment missions, two to the USA east coast, one to the west coast
  • Two Enterprise Ireland trade missions, one to Saudi Arabia and India, one to the south-eastern USA, accompanied by a total of 80 Irish companies looking to break into new export markets
  • A 7-day joint IDA/EI mission to China led by the Taoiseach
  • A Saint Patrick’s Day trip to the west coast of the USA, which included several meetings with IDA and EI target and client companies

Extracts from the Minister’s schedule as follows:

Sunday, April 29th 2012

16:15 Arrive Boston.

Monday, April 30th 2012

07:00 Meeting with Health/Life Sciences company .

09.30 Meeting with technology/chip development company.

11.00 Meeting with technology/voice recognition technology company.

12.30 Meeting with technology/software company.

15.00 Meeting with technology/software company.

18.40 Flight Departs for Raleigh, NC arriving at 20:55.

Tuesday 1st May 2012

08:00 Meeting with technology/communications company.

09:15 Meeting with technology/software company.

11:30 Lunch meeting with technology/software company.

14:45 Fly to Atlanta (arrive 16:15).

19:00 Dinner with target company.

Wednesday 2nd May 2012

09:00 Meeting with technology company.

12:05 Fly to Minneapolis (arrive 13.45).

15:30 Meeting with food company.

16:45 Meeting with health/life sciences company.

Thursday 3rd May 2012

09.00 Meeting with business services company.

10.30 Meeting with health/life sciences company.

13:10 Fly to Chicago (arrive 14:30)

16:00 Meeting with health/life sciences company.

19:30 Dinner with existing and potential IDA clients.

Friday 4th May 2012

08:00 Meeting with member of US media.

09:00 Meeting with technology/e-commerce company.

10:30 Meeting with target company.

12:00 Lunch with financial services company.

13:45 Meeting with financial services company.

15:00 Depart for Airport.

18.45 Return to Dublin.

ENDS