Intel Ireland is Ireland's largest industrial employer and biggest foreign direct investor - -Since 1989, Intel has invested over $7 billion transforming the 360 acre former stud farm campus in Leixlip, Co. Kildare into a state of the art manufacturing centre of excellence.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland dropped in 2009, with job creation by foreign multinationals dipping 42 per cent to 7,500.

Jobs in IDA Ireland supported companies fell below the 2000 level last year. The number employed in IDA-assisted companies has fallen from 141,000 in 2000 to 136,000 in 2009.

According to the National Irish Bank/FDI Intelligence Inward Investment Performance Monitor, the global FDI market was weak, with the number of new jobs created falling 25 per cent compared to 2008.

In money terms, Ireland fell from 21st to 23rd of 30 countries. China was top, the US was second and India third.

In Europe, new jobs declined by about a third, while Ireland was particularly hard hit with jobs falling from 12,900 to 7,500.

However, the report said Ireland attracted a large share of global FDI flows given its small size, accounting 0.7 per cent.

According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Ireland is more dependent on US companies than any other country and almost 90% of exports are made by foreign firms. So the existing stock of FDI investment in Ireland would be expected to spawn a disproportionate level of new investment.

According to the IMF report on Ireland last year, Ireland has lost market share in the global and Eurozone flows of FDI (foreign direct investment). FDI inflows into the Eurozone have tended to fall as a share of world FDI flows.

However, Irish FDI shares have fallen faster. In recent years, Ireland has become the most expensive location in the Eurozone, with the possible exception of Luxembourg. The transformation from a location for low-cost manufacturing to a center for high value added production and services is ongoing. However, the IMF says research shows that FDI flows to a country are highly influenced by recent momentum - - increased global competition for FDI implies that task for Ireland is increasingly harder.

"The particularly sharp fall in investment in Ireland is largely due to the negative perceptions Ireland has suffered following the rapid increase in unemployment and the sharp deterioration in the Government’s finances over the last 18 months. Other factors - - such as the strength of the euro - - also didn’t help,” said NIB's chief economist Dr Ronnie O’Toole.

Services rather than manufacturing were strong in 2009 and over the past decade, services exports grew from €20 billion in 2000 to around €70 billion last year. In contrast, there was no growth in the goods exports from 2000 to 2009, which totalled €80 billion.

"This is indicative of the extent to which the export sector has successfully moved away from low value-added manufacturing activities to better quality services jobs," said O'Toole.

With total global FDI remaining weak into next year making it more difficult for countries like Ireland to attract new investment, competition will grow, the report warned, with little prospect of an immediate jobs boost.

"On the positive side, some of the more extreme fears about the Irish economy in 2009 have now eased, particularly with the very strong measures the Government has taken to reign in the borrowing deficit," O'Toole said. "This, coupled with falling costs in the Irish economy, should help attract more firms here once the global slump is over.”

SEE: Finfacts articles:

Dec 2009: The challenge of creating 160,000 new Irish jobs

Feb 2010: Building an indigenous Irish exporting base; Being prepared for a hard slog and the sheltered workshop that is RTÉ