The housing crisis is “a brake” on foreign investment in Ireland, admitted the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.
While this won’t cause the state to lose investment from foreign companies, he said it was “certainly a concern”.
“I don’t see a major slowdown in FDI (foreign direct investment) next year anyway, I think the pipeline is very strong,” he said.
“Is the housing shortage a brake on investment? Yes it is.
“When I meet senior executives and board members of companies considering investing in Ireland, they ask me questions about our infrastructure.
“Infrastructure is definitely a barrier to further growth in Ireland.”
The Tánaiste said the housing crisis is not unique to Ireland, as the same executives also face similar challenges in California.
He defended Fine Gael’s record in government, saying investment in infrastructure has more than tripled in recent years and has been “phenomenal”.
The government has had to catch up due to the financial crisis and a “rapid” increase in population and he said some countries are further ahead in terms of public transport, such as having a system of subway.
He said last year was the best year ever for FDI.
In his final weeks as enterprise minister, Mr Varadkar launched a white paper on enterprise.
The policy document aims to halve the number of large Irish exporting companies in the final years of this decade.
The conditions should be created for an additional 2,000 Irish exporters to thrive in the global market by 2030.
The state will also target at least half of all FDI investment to locations outside of Dublin.
Mr Varadkar said the case for a corporate policy white paper is to modernize the sector in an “evolution not a revolution”.
At a press conference today, Mr Varadkar was also asked about a video socializing him which has been circulating on social media.
“I think it’s a very personal matter and as you say it’s entirely about my private life and for those reasons I don’t want to comment on it,” he replied.
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