700 US companies now located in Ireland as direct investment soars

Ireland has benefited from $277bn (£182bn) of US direct foreign investment in the past two decades – gaining more from American firms than Brazil, Russia, India and China combined.

The figures from the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland go back to 1990 and show corporations continued to cross the Atlantic even during the dark years of the recent recession.

The ACCI’s latest report into foreign direct investment shows that 700 US companies based in Ireland now employ 130,000 people.

The list of major firms operating in the Republic includes Intel, Boston Scientific, Dell, Pfizer, Google, Hewlett Packard, Facebook and Johnson and Johnson.

Four years ago, there were just over 600 American companies based in Ireland, according to the country’s industrial development authority.

The report by Wall Street economist Joseph Quinlan revealed that even in 2013, the first year of a fragile economic recovery, American foreign direct investment rose by 42% to $37bn (£24m). In the same period, total US investment to Europe fell by 19% to $115bn (£75bn).

While big US firms such as Intel have been in Ireland for more than 20 years, several other giants arrived in the Republic when the financial crash occurred in 2008. In the midst of the crash, Facebook established a presence in Dublin and created 250 jobs. Its European HQ is located in what is now known as the Google Quarter in south-central Dublin.

Google and PayPal, which also use Ireland as a bridgehead into the European market, increased their workforces during the worst years of the recession.

At the world web summit in Dublin’s RDS conference centre last autumn, the IDA and the Irish government announced the creation of a further 1,000 technology jobs, the majority of which were with firms from the US.

In February, Apple announced a further major investment in its long-standing Irish operation with the construction of a giant €850m (£615m) data centre in Athenry, Co Galway. The centre is expected to create 300 new jobs and will be Apple’s largest data collection hub in Europe.

Launching the report in Dublin, Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs and trade, Charlie Flanagan, said the study underlined the strength of the relationship between the two nations.

He said: “The report also indicates a bright future ahead with many US companies planning to grow their operations here; this is welcome news at a time where the latest figures show unemployment down for the 39th consecutive month in a row.”A major draw for US firms is Ireland’s low 12.5% corporation tax rate and numerous controversial tax breaks. The government has promised to phase out the latter.

The corporate tax rate, which remains a sacrosanct part of Irish industrial policy, has been so successful in wooing US investment that the country’s neighbours across the border want it too. The Northern Ireland assembly passed legislation this week allowing for corporation tax powers to be devolved, with politicians at Stormont aiming for a similar rate.