Why Ireland? Why not.

Welcome back to the blog! 

This week, I will analyse the reasons why multinationals choose to relocate to Ireland over any other country in the world.

Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Indeed, IBM, and Microsoft are among the many multinationals with headquarters in Dublin, taking advantage of the numerous benefits Ireland has to offer.

10 Reasons Why Tech Multinationals Choose Ireland

1. Ireland has the second-lowest corporation tax in Europe.

Since 2003, Ireland’s corporate tax rate has been 12.5%, just above Hungary’s of 9% and well below the average of 21.7% among other European countries. 

Ireland also has tax treaties with many strong markets worldwide, such as the US, UK, China, Japan, Australia, and Canada; hence, Ireland is quite attractive for multinationals (Velocity Global, 2023). What multinational wants to pay more in tax than they have to? Wouldn't you do the same? 

2. Ireland is the only English-speaking country in the EU.

With Brexit, new opportunities for well-developed, English-speaking countries like Ireland have arisen, as English remains the language of business. 

London is no longer the financial capital of the EU, and many multinationals such as Stripe, Slack, and HubSpot have moved their headquarters from the UK to Ireland in late 2020.

3. Ireland is home to a highly talented and skilled workforce.

The quality of education in Ireland is ranked fifth in the world (Velocity Global, 2023), as 63% of 18–24-year-olds, more than the average European rate of 59%, are enrolled in higher education. 

 

4. Ireland encourages the development of artificial intelligence.

Ireland approves and encourages the use of artificial intelligence. This makes the Irish workforce excel in an increasingly digital world. Multinationals have ingeniously set partnerships with local universities to develop new AI technologies and tech programmes; for instance, Huawei is currently partnered with Trinity College (Velocity Global, 2023). 

5. Ireland is part of the global economic elite.

Ireland’s economy has been steadily growing each year. According to the Central Statistics Office, Ireland grew by 12.2% in GDP in 2022, despite the price squeeze and slowdown internationally. Lucky Ireland did not suffer from the roaring high global inflation like most of us living in it did! 

 

6. Ireland’s small and barrier-free economy gives easy access to the main markets.

Businesses expand overseas to get easier access to new and profitable markets, and Ireland gives them the opportunity to do so, as companies get immediate access to one of the biggest global markets: the European Union, with over 500 million consumers.

Watch this short video to learn more about Ireland's economy!

7. Innovation in Ireland is encouraged and supported.

Ireland is ranked third globally for high-value FDI projects. Start-ups and new businesses in Ireland are highly supported by the IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland (IDA, 2023). Click here to learn more about this.

 

8. Ireland offers numerous grants and funding for start-ups 

There are several funding programmes that start-ups can access in Ireland. If a start-up has the “potential to create 10 jobs and €1 million in export sales within 3 years of starting up, they may qualify for assistance from Enterprise Ireland as a High Potential Start-up (HPSU)”. Enterprise Ireland Grants provide funding at the early stages of a start-up for innovative ideas. Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) Funding provides loans for SMEs as well as tech companies. Skillnet Ireland provides support and training for employees who wish to up-skill in the tech industry (Enterprise Ireland, 2023). It sounds easy and doable, doesn't it? All you need now is an idea, and off you go! or maybe not.

9. Ireland has one of the fastest connections in Europe.

Ireland has a fully deregulated telecommunications market, which many multinationals have taken advantage of. Ireland had ready access to an international airport and transport hub, directly linking Ireland to Europe, the UK, and the world (Velocity Global, 2023).

 

10. Ireland has reliable and efficient data protection laws.

Since introducing GDPR in 2018, Ireland has appeared to be a primary enforcer of data privacy regulation. This is supported by the fact that in 2022, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) and other European supervisory authorities issued more than €1.6 billion in fines to several US tech multinationals for violating data security (Titcomb, 2023). Click here to read more about this.

I hope you found this week's post clear and concise and now better understand why multinationals are moving to Ireland.

Can you think of any more reasons why anyone should move to Ireland? apart from the constant amazing sunny weather, obviously!

Let me know in the comments what you think! Share this with your friends who are considering moving to Ireland due to the amazing job opportunities but are still unsure.