Enterprise Ireland and the IDA are to step up operations this year as both agencies add to their staff numbers to deal with the fallout from Brexit.
IDA Ireland has been granted €750,000 for an additional ten positions, while Enterprise Ireland is about to begin the recruitment of an extra 39 new hires.
The new roles will be funded by a €3 million Brexit pay allocation given to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in the 2017 Budget.
The funding was confirmed by Mary Mitchell O’Connor, the jobs minister, in response to a parliamentary question from Thomas Broughan, an independent TD. “IDA Ireland has identified an immediate requirement for an additional ten client-facing posts to assist the agency in capitalising on opportunities that may arise on account of Brexit,” Ms Mitchell O’Connor said.
A spokeswoman for the IDA said that the agency welcomed “any increase in resources to help Ireland win more business”. Ms Mitchell O’Connor also said that a request from Enterprise Ireland for an extra 39 posts had been approved.
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“[The jobs] will be focused on intensifying work with clients to maintain and grow their UK exports and extend their reach into international markets,” she said. “The new roles will also help to reinforce the competitiveness of clients by working with them to strengthen their productivity, innovation and management capabilities.”
The majority of the new Enterprise Ireland roles will be on the assistant principal officer pay scale, which has a starting salary of €58,042. They will be spread out across the agency’s overseas networks and in its Irish-based team.
A spokesman for the agency, which is responsible for promoting Irish businesses abroad, said that it was not yet clear which markets the new recruits would enter.
“Enterprise Ireland is satisfied we have sufficient resources to cover our activities for 2017 and we will remain in ongoing dialogue with our department and engage if additional funding is required in 2018 and beyond,” the spokesman said.
The body is also set to expand its trade missions substantially. It went on 29 ministerial-led trade missions and events in 2016, in which 400 companies participated, and expects this to rise to 40 this year.
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Mr Broughan described the taoiseach’s decision not to appoint a Brexit minister as “underwhelming”.
“In the absence of one responsible minister, I do welcome confirmation from Ms Mitchell O’Connor that both the IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are recruiting additional staff to deal directly with the challenges and, indeed, opportunities posed by a hard Brexit as confirmed by Theresa May, the [British] prime minister,” he said.
The news comes after the government said it would “vigorously pursue” the opportunity for businesses and EU agencies to move to Dublin.
“The government notes that the British approach is now firmly that of a country which will have left the EU but which seeks to negotiate a new, close relationship with it,” a government spokesman said. “While this will inevitably be seen by many as a hard exit, the analysis across government has covered all possible models for the future UK relationship with the EU.”
The government said it was “very aware of the potential economic opportunities that may arise for Ireland” after Brexit.