Ireland Rated as Top Location for Foreign Investors

"Ireland is rated, throughout the world, as one of the best locations for
foreign direct investment", John Dunne Chairman of IDA Ireland, the
country's investment promotion body, told those gathered at the launch of
the organisation's annual report.

According to Mr Dunne, international investors are attracted to Ireland
because it is the most globalised country in the world, with the highest
rate of foreign direct investment flows as a percentage of GDP and also
boasts a low corporate tax rate and a good quality of life.

"Business and community leaders everywhere point to our success as a model
of how a country and its people can transform into a dynamic world-leading
centre for business growth" he stated, adding that:

"Ireland's value proposition today is substantially different from the past.
We have moved away from low cost, low value assembly and service operations
where the primary objective was simply job creation. The Ireland of the 21st
century presents the opportunity for the international business investor to
be part of a leading global business location offering world-class
innovation and development, superior performance and efficiency and cutting
edge business integration and support solutions."

"The benefits of this for Ireland have to be measured differently also. We
should no longer just count the number of jobs created but also measure the
levels of investment, the nature and quality of the employment and the
strategic relevance of the activities. In our report today we have begun the
process of showing our performance in this way."

Describing 2004 as a "watershed" year in terms of investment, Dunne noted
that several high-calibre firms invested in Ireland last year, including
Lucent Bell Labs, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Centocor, Guidant, Yahoo and
Merrill Lynch.

"Our business in 2005 continues to be buoyant and is on target. The quality
of the investments is being sustained and in particular we have had
considerable success in locating projects in towns throughout the country,"
he observed.