The agency says 12,500 jobs have been created in the past six months.

IDA Ireland’s half-yearly report reflects the strong flow of investment in Ireland in the first half of 2021.

The agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ireland said global investment has been on the rise since the sharp fall in 2020 but is unlikely to return to pandemic pre-levels until 2022.

Of the 142 investments, more than 12,530 were created in the first six months of this year, the report said. Of these, 80 were invested by companies already in Ireland, and 62 were new to the country.

68 investments – 48% of the total – went to “local locations” or locations outside Dublin. The report describes the overall numbers as returning to “record highs near 2019”.

IDA CEO Martin Shanahan said: “These positive results show that foreign direct investment is on the rise, showing extra resilience and strength as the epidemic enters its second year. “

He added that these results “demonstrate the continued resistance of businesses in our key areas of intervention.” From these figures, we can see once again that half of the investments made by FDI companies so far this year have gone to countries outside Dublin. We will continue to focus on securing investment for local locations across Ireland. “

The report noted that “there are still many challenges” for Ireland, especially in the face of Brexit, protectionism and competition for FDI. “Ireland needs to be at the forefront of new technologies and practices to keep our country getting the best investment possible,” he said.

The IDA also cited a report by the consultancy firm EY, which released in June, that Ireland had the largest per capita FDI inflows into Europe by 2020. According to the report, investments have been affected by a number of broad trends, including digitization, transition to employment and transition to it. A green economy.

Shahnahan added that Ireland has adopted a consistent, sustainable, transparent and competitive approach to corporate taxation over the years. Under any new global financial framework, it is important that Ireland provide stability and a competitive offer to investors. “

The corporate tax rate is set at 15 per cent amid pressure from Ireland to sign the OECD agreement. Ireland is one of nine of the 139 countries that have not signed the treaty.

Throughout the Ireland Pandemic, IDA believes that Ireland has faced the economic downturn from Kovid-19 with relative success.