Tech chiefs welcome new San Francisco route

Irish based technology executives will have a direct route home to Silicon Valley from this Wednesday, when Aer Lingus commences its five times a week route to San Francisco.

Barry O'Leary, CEO of IDA Ireland, will be travelling on the inaugural direct flight to San Francisco where he will meet with west-coast based clients as part of a two day investment mission. The West Coast is the largest single source for FDI projects for Ireland.

“Approximately 40 per cent of the foreign direct investment to Ireland from the US comes from the Silicon Valley area,” says Mr O’Leary, adding that the route “boosts the offering Ireland can present to the vibrant Silicon Valley community, making Ireland even more visible to companies looking to internationalise.”

Sonia Flynn, managing director of Facebook Ireland, said she was "delighted to see the city connected to Silicon Valley again".

“Ireland’s economy can only benefit from connections to sources of investment and growth, so we’re happy to have worked with the IDA to help reinstate this direct route. Since arriving in Ireland in 2009, Dublin has offered Facebook talent in abundance and we currently have plans to expand our team at our new offices in Grand Canal Dock,’’ she said.

According to the IDA, the IT sector accounted for 30 per cent of Dublin office take-up in 2013 and US tech giants alone invested more than $130 billion (approximately € 95 bn) into Ireland between 2008 and 2012 – the same as in all of developing Asia.

California accounts for 55 per cent of all US venture capital investment and IDA has a team of six individuals in the state focusing on these opportunities.

There are 179 companies employing over 36,000 people in Ireland from the West Coast of the US. These companies are primarily based in the technology and digital media sectors.

In 2013, 30 investments from west coast companies were approved and involved more than 3,000 Irish jobs, or approximately one quarter of the total jobs created by IDA Ireland that year.