In the first half of the year, IDA approved 110 investment projects, which will lead to creation of 9,000 direct jobs this year and over future years as the companies gradually roll out their investment plans.

This compares to 100 investments at this time last year and 8,000 direct jobs.

IDA Ireland estimates that for every 10 direct jobs provided by foreign direct investment (FDI), another seven indirect jobs are generated for the Irish economy.

IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan said the agency was focused on getting more jobs to areas outside Dublin and there were now job announcements earmarked for all eight of its administrative regions around Ireland.

The jobs involve projects such as Apple’s €850m data centre investment in Galway that will generate 300 jobs in various phases, Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ €450m investment in Blanchardstown, Facebook’s plan to create a data centre in Clonee, 100 new jobs in Dublin from Slack, 250 Galway jobs by med tech company Zimmer and 200 Dublin jobs by online fashion site Zalando in Dublin.

“The first half of the year represented a very strong performance for Ireland from an FDI perspective, particularly when one considers the challenging backdrop in Europe and parts of Asia. It is very satisfying that major global players are voting confidence in the Irish economy, which is set to be the fastest growing in Europe this year, with FDI playing a strong part in that performance“

Martin Shanahan, Chief Executive, IDA Ireland