London’s Canary Wharf district. The IDA is to switch its continental European activity to Frankfurt

Brexit has weakened the UK’s ability to attract overseas investment as companies look to create jobs in other European countries after the referendum result, the head of the IDA has said.

Martin Shanahan, chief executive of the Industrial Development Agency, said that the UK was “clearly not” as big a competitor for foreign direct investment (FDI) since the Brexit vote.

He added that Ireland had benefited from Britain’s diminished attractiveness as companies that would previously have been likely to invest in the UK opted for other European locations.

Asked if the UK was not as strong a competitor as it previously had been, Mr Shanahan said: “Clearly not. I mean the UK was winning the lion’s share of investment into Europe in FDI but Brexit