12 counties get cold shoulder from foreign investors

Ireland has been dependant on foreign direct investment for years now. So it's probably bad news that 12 counties have had no visits at all from potential investors this year.

Who's been left asking 'where is the love?'. Well, it's actually large swathes of the country, with the Midlands faring worst of all.

The 12 counties are Carlow, Donegal, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Tipperary and Wexford.

The figures come from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and paint a fairly depressing picture for those included in the list.

While many counties are like Billy-no-mates for the first half of the year, Dublin's popularity was another issue altogether. Of the 162 visits by foreign investors in the first five months of the year over half were to Dublin. Not surprising really when you considered it has our biggest airport.

Other counties feeling the good vibes from the lads with the cash are Cork with 17 visits, Limerick and Waterford with 12 and Galway with 10.

The most interesting thing about the whole thing is seeing what the 12 untouchable counties will do to get some sugar from international investors. Maybe they can start leaving smutty calling cards in US phone boxes. Whatever happens, they'll have to start pimping themselves out much more aggressively.