Both Ireland and Spain attract

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) refers to capital expenditures by companies (with their head office in another country) to either acquire assets of an existing firm in a foreign country with the intention of playing a role in managing those assets, or to establish a new firm. Put more simply, a firm in one country invests in another country in order to control and manage an actual productive capacity that will generate output. There are a …

…terms of the quite phenomenal growth of export-oriented FDI in manufacturing, from a zero base in the late 1950s to a situation where almost 65 per cent of gross output and over 45 per cent of employment in manufacturing is in foreign-owned export-oriented firms. Over the last decade the decline in indigenous manufacturing employment has been halted and strong growth in indigenous exports achieved. In the long run Irish policies to promote FDI have benefited its economy.