CHINA IS a “tough market” for foreign direct investment, the chief executive of the IDA Barry O’Leary said yesterday, indicating that despite the goodwill that was flowing as a result of last week’s visit of vice-president Xi Jinping it was unlikely that Ireland would see a major investment from China in the short-term.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education yesterday, Mr O’Leary said delivery of investment from the region would be in the medium to long term.

“It’s one thing trading with China and another thing getting investment out of China,” he said, pointing out that where Ireland had strengths to offer, such as in technology, China was not particularly strong.

While only 6 per cent of foreign direct investment from China was coming into Europe, Mr O’Leary said there were “undoubtedly opportunities in financial services” for Ireland, as well as in telecommunications and positioning Ireland as a European headquarters for Chinese conglomerates.

In relation to the proposed Chinese hub in Athlone, Co Westmeath, Mr O’Leary said he had no updated information on the project. “It’s a very ambitious project and how realistic it is is yet to be proven.”

As part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs, which aims to create 100,000 new jobs, a new potential exports division is due to be created in Enterprise Ireland (EI). This will target a wider range of companies with exporting potential, according to Frank Daly, chief executive of the agency.

This new division is scheduled to be running by St Patrick’s Day.

“It will help us reach out to companies who heretofore did not see EI as a natural ally,” he said at the Oireachtas committee yesterday.

While a new network of local enterprise offices in each local authority was also highlighted in the plan, Mr Daly said legislation would be required before this could be enacted.

The new offices will replace city and county enterprise boards, and will act as a “one stop shop” to support small businesses.