IDA Ireland, the foreign direct investment agency, has defended its job creation statistics in a war of words with the Dail’s public accounts committee (PAC), which queried its methods.
In a statement last week, the committee said it was “not assured of the adequacy of the methodology” used by the IDA to verify job numbers at its client companies.
The all-party committee said a self-assessment survey filled in by employers “does not provide sufficient reassurance or clarity in relation to the accuracy of numbers of jobs”.
It recommended that the IDA develops “a more robust” methodology for verifying job numbers. The IDA said the job survey was done by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, and not by the agency.
It added that the survey used “a tried and tested methodology”, and the self-reporting system was similar to that used in the national population census.
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“The IDA has provided detailed information to the PAC on the operation of the survey,” it said. “The survey has been undertaken since 1972 and is based on appropriate methodological standards.” The IDA added that it would “consider” the PAC’s comments, together with the department and other agencies.