Tuesday, 21 March 2023

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney T.D. today welcomed the appointment of Michael Lohan as CEO of IDA Ireland. The appointment was announced by the Board of IDA Ireland.

Speaking today, Minister Coveney said:

“I congratulate Michael on his appointment as CEO of IDA Ireland. I look forward to working with him to sustain Ireland’s success in winning and retaining investment and jobs in an increasingly competitive international environment. We must ensure that Ireland continues to attract and retain overseas investments and the jobs they provide and that our value proposition continues to be amongst the best in the world.

“IDA Ireland is recognised as a leading investment promotion agency, responsible for supporting over 300,000 jobs in multinational companies across the country. The performance of our FDI sector has reached record levels, notwithstanding the current resetting by the tech sector, and I am looking forward to working with Michael and the IDA in maintaining Ireland’s strong performance in attracting and retaining high-quality FDI.

“Our FDI sector is a central element of our economic model. IDA will play a leading role in implementing Government’s policy on enterprise as set out in the recently published Government White Paper on Enterprise. Government is committed to ensuring that Ireland remains at the frontier of new technologies and sectoral development and realising the potential of our regions. IDA is working closely with the FDI sector on digital transformation, achieving our net-zero carbon commitments and developing our offshore wind industry.

“My Department and IDA will work hand-in-glove to maintain Ireland’s strong performance in attracting high-quality mobile FDI to Ireland in such key sectors as ICT, Lifesciences, Financial Services and frontier manufacturing, as well as further embedding the many FDI companies already located here, built up over the seven decades of IDA’s existence.”

The Minister also joined IDA Chairman, Mr Frank Ryan, in thanking Mary Buckley for her leadership as Interim CEO of IDA Ireland over the past months. 

Michael Lohan took up his current role as Global Head of Life Sciences Division and Talent Transformation and Innovation Department and Executive Team member in 2017.

Mr Lohan represents IDA in several fora including Board member on Digital Manufacturing Ireland, governance member on the SSPC research centre for pharmaceuticals and previously with the Irish Medical Association which is the business association within IBEC representing the medical devices and diagnostics sector. In addition, he is Advisory Board member for the Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund.

Mr Lohan joined IDA Ireland in 2003 from the private sector where he held a number of different management positions including responsibility for New Business Solutions with Nortel’s European Operations in Galway and a management role with IEC Electronics European Operations.

Michael Lohan holds an MSc in Technology Management and is a graduate of the Berkley Executive Programme.

IDA Ireland is the Government’s inward investment promotion and development agency.

IDA Ireland reported record annual results for 2022 in December last, with a substantial increase in growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) employment on 2021. The numbers directly employed in IDA multinational clients in Ireland reach 301,475, the highest FDI employment level ever and a 9% increase on 2021. IDA client companies recorded 32,426 gross new job gains in 2022, with a 24,019 net jobs increase. IDA won 242 investments in 2022 for Ireland, 103 of which were new name investments. Importantly, 52% or 127 of the 242 investments won went to regional locations, with employment growth in every region of the country.