Irish multinationals abroad generate €232bn in turnover

CSO figures also show Irish-domiciled multinationals employ close to 1m people

An enterprise is deemed to be Irish-owned if over 50 per cent of its controlling interest is in the Republic. Photograph: iStock
An enterprise is deemed to be Irish-owned if over 50 per cent of its controlling interest is in the Republic. Photograph: iStock

Irish multinationals abroad generated €232 billion in turnover in 2018, with US and UK affiliates accounting for the lion's share (57 per cent), new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

The figures also show that affiliates of Irish-domiciled multinationals employed close to one million employees (998,000), a third of whom were based in the US (219,113) and the UK (118,094).

An enterprise is deemed to be Irish-owned if over 50 per cent of its controlling interest is in the Republic.

"Any enterprise that redomiciles their controlling operations to Ireland will have a bearing on the results," the CSO said.

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UK figures

The figures show the turnover in Irish affiliates in the UK increased by 4.5 per cent from 2017 to 2018, while employment increased by 8,994 or 8.2 per cent.

In the US, the turnover of Irish affiliates in the US decreased by 0.1 per cent with employment also decreasing by 9,320 or 4.1 per cent.

Irish affiliates in Germany, France and the Netherlands together account for 11.6 per cent of turnover from Irish multinationals abroad in 2018 and affiliates in these three countries accounted for 76,054 persons employed or 7.6 per cent, the CSO said.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times