Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has paid tribute to Martin Shanahan for his "phenomenal" eight-year stint as CEO IDA Ireland after it was announced he is leaving the agency in early 2023.

IDA chairman Frank Ryan also praised Shanahan, saying that he had “served IDA and the country with distinction" since his appointment in 2014, during which time the number of multinationals in Ireland has increased by half to to 1,690, with linked jobs rising by 70% to 275,000.

Ryan said Shanahan had "developed IDA Ireland into one of the most competitive and dynamic investment promotion and development agencies in the world through investing in its people, its culture, its processes, and its infrastructure”.

"Winning foreign direct investment is hugely competitive and Martin has been a constant economic ambassador for Ireland in boardrooms across the world during his tenure,” said Ryan.

For H1 2022, the agency said client investments were 10% up on pre-pandemic levels.

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Estimated job approvals at FDI firms backed by the agency rose 44% from the same period of 2021 and 33% from 2019.

In total, from January to June 2022, the IDA secured 155 investments with an estimated 18,000 associated jobs, with 73 investments from firms new to Ireland and 73 going to regional locations.

"We should never forget that the jobs and revenue created by multinationals helped to keep us out of recession when the pandemic hit and are now giving us the financial firepower to ease the cost of living crisis and avoid recession once again," Varadkar said.

"We’ve worked hard to create a welcoming environment for FDI in all parts of the country and the strong regional spread of jobs and investment in today’s results demonstrates government policy. We want long-term sustainable jobs, work that pays better, in every county in the country. That is our objective and I’m glad to see that reflected in the results today."

Shanahan's annual remuneration is €193,500.

IDA Ireland received €200m in taxpayer funding in 2021, plus €3m from the National Training Fund.

The agency disbursed €98.5m to multinationals with operations in Ireland and spent €49m on industrial property.

Agency overheads increased €10m year-on-year to €63m, with the staff salary cost excluding employer's PRSI amounting to €27.3m. The average salary for 328 IDA staff through 2021 was €83,200.

Photo: (l-r) Frank Ryan, Leo Varadkar and Martin Shanahan. (Pic: Maxwells)