Data out this week showed just why Ireland is so invested in the upcoming US presidential election. Whoever emerges the winner will have a disproportionate impact on Ireland Inc.
The numbers from the Central Statistics Office show that while only 3 per cent of Irish businesses were owned by foreign multinationals in 2022, they accounted for 71 per cent of turnover in the Irish business economy, and 27 per cent of employment — providing jobs to more than 623,000 people.
And US multinationals account for almost three-quarters of that turnover.
Other figures from the exchequer show that the higher wages on average at these enterprises mean they contribute disproportionately to the State’s take in income taxes — even before you look at their lopsided role in our surging corporation tax take.
Hardly surprising then to see Deloitte economist Kate English argue that Ireland needs to ensure it “continues to remain an attractive and competitive destination for foreign direct investment”.
Data centres are energy-hungry and employ few people, so why does Ireland need more of them?
We cannot control the policies of other countries, she noted, but we do need to focus on making “the right strategic investments” in a world where shifting trade policies and the threat of tariffs highlight increasing global competition.
Also this week, US ambassador Claire Cronin hosted a summit at the embassy’s Phoenix Park residence to mark 100 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Ireland. Among those addressing the gathering was Taoiseach Simon Harris.
He said that if Ireland was to continue to attract and retain investment, it must urgently overcome infrastructural deficits in energy, water, transport and housing, adding that the State housing deficit was his “biggest concern bar none” — perhaps forgetting that it is his party that has been the mainstay of successive governments over the past 13 years.
His suggestion that the deficits which threaten our attraction for inward investment had “emerged due to an extraordinary decade of economic and population growth” turns a curiously blind eye to the active decisions of government on planning reform and on investment in infrastructure.
Whoever emerges from the maelstrom of November 5th in the US, Ireland needs to focus on key reform and investment if it is to capitalise on opportunity, not on quick fixes.
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