[2] Today it is a semi-state body that plays an important role in Ireland's relationship with foreign investors, with multinationals accounting for 10.2% of employment and 66% of Irish exports.
While IDA Ireland gets its funding from the Irish State (with costs circa €48m in 2017), as an autonomous non-commercial state-sponsored body, it maintains its own independent board and governance.
Key "selling points" have been the young, English-speaking, flexible workforce, a strong educational system, commercially-aware third level institutions, a location which allows easy exporting into Europe, and the ability to tap into European talent in the wake of Brexit, and a 'clustering effect' in certain industrial and business sectors.
[citation needed] A key IDA Ireland target market is Japan, which is a large global source of life sciences manufacturing enterprises, and also has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.
[23][24][25] However, the IDA has been credited with achieving limited success in the face of housing and infrastructure shortages and regulatory hurdles,[23] and a 2018 S&P Global Market Intelligence study found that Germany and Ireland were the leaders in attracting financial businesses relocating from London.
[citation needed] Ireland's largest company Apple, post their giant BEPS inversion in 2015 (see "leprechaun economics"), now represents circa 25% of Irish GDP.
[citation needed] Because of Apple, the Central Bank of Ireland has had to replace Irish GDP with modified gross national income (or GNI*).
[35][36][37][38] In 2015 the Irish government announced a five-year plan for the IDA aimed at accelerating economic recovery in the country, setting a target of 80,000 jobs by 2019 and investing €150 million in a regional property programme.