1990-2006 Page 9 of Report

Forfas the Irish State science and policy advisory agency today published the results of the Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact (ABSEI) for 2006. ABSEI covers the client base of State business promotion agencies - Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Shannon Development and Údarás na Gaeltachta.

 The report shows that foreign-owned firms were responsible for 90.2% of exports from Ireland in 2006.

Total exports in foreign-owned manufacturing and internationally traded services amounted to €96.4bn in 2006 with manufacturing accounting for €70bn (73 percent) of this total, and the internationally trading services sector contributing €26bn (27 percent) the balance. Overall, exports in foreign-owned manufacturing firms grew by 4.6 percent between 2005 and 2006.

In line with the trends observed in the total sales figures, the contribution of the internationally traded services sector to this overall export growth has been higher than the rate observed in the manufacturing sectors; 2006 was a particularly strong year for exports growth in the foreign-owned internationally traded services sector, with a growth figure of 9.3 percent. In 2006, over 94 percent of the goods and services produced by foreign-owned firms were exported.

Total sales of Irish-owned agency assisted companies operating in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors amounted to €25.9bn in 2006. Manufacturing sectors account for €20bn of this total with the remaining €5.9bn coming from internationally traded services. The food and drink sector continues to account for the largest share of indigenous sales (€11.7bn or 45 percent), followed by basic and fabricated metal products and non-metallic minerals sectors, accounting for 5.7 and 6.9 percent respectively of total sales among indigenous companies.

The three leading Irish drinks brands - Guinness, Jameson whiskey and Baileys Irish Cream are owned by big international groups, while in the food sector, the UK company Northern Foods has a payroll in Ireland of about 1,000 producing Goodfella's pizzas and frozen foods for the British market.