IDA boss sees further multinational jobs growth this year

Thomson Reuters

IDA Ireland expects the number of people employed by foreign-owned firms to increase this year despite the tougher global economic environment and tech sector job cuts, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Ireland is hugely reliant on foreign multinationals, which have almost doubled their total workforce to 301,000 in the last decade, including a 43 per cent year-on-year net gain in 2022 alone. Their employees make up around 12 per cent of the entire labour market.

IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan said that while its half year results due next week will not show the same record growth levels, the numbers will be "very strong".

"If we continue on this current trajectory, we would be confident that we will have a net positive position at year end," Mr Lohan told an Irish Times podcast, adding the outlook for future investments was also very strong even with the more challenging economic conditions and ongoing tech sector correction.

While big tech firms including Meta and Twitter have made substantial cuts in their Irish operations, employment in Ireland's information and communication technologies sector grew by 2.7 per cent from January to March, data showed last month.

Mr Lohan said he believed most of the cuts were over, with the possibility that there may be some more.

He also said that in the broader technology sector, more industrial based firms were growing strongly, citing Analog Devices' $693 million investment last month in a new Irish manufacturing plant that is set to create 600 jobs.

A number of pharmaceutical and life science multinationals, including Boston Scientific, Dexcom and Eli Lily, have also made large job announcements this year.

Mr Lohan added that while the state agency had not lost out on any new investments solely due to a years-long undersupply of housing in Ireland, the ongoing capacity issue has "certainly dampened growth" among multinationals already based here.