The importance of US foreign direct investment in Ireland is well understood but what is sometimes less well appreciated is that the US-Irish business relationship is very much a two-way street.
“US FDI is very strong here now and thankfully there is a wonderful pipeline of projects coming through, across all sectors. But what is also super is that Irish companies are also doing amazing things in the US. Indeed, Irish companies are now employing almost as many people in the US as US companies are in Ireland. It’s very much a two-way relationship,” says Mark Redmond, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.
What’s more, investment in Ireland yields additional dividends to US companies. “What we hear time and again from US companies that come here is that they choose to locate here because of the high level of skills and the ‘can-do’ attitude they find. It is why we are also seeing so many centres of excellence and centres of leadership being established by US companies here in Ireland.”
Ireland has become the country of choice for US companies looking to run operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Amazon has just announced it is to hire another 500 people, and they called out talent as their reason for doing that here. Ireland is top of the list on the talent front. We are told repeatedly that the talent pool here is one that has a tremendous ability to solve problems, to work in teams and be collegial,” he says.
In a world of fast-changing technologies, that ability to work together to adapt and innovate is held at a premium. “The ability to be collegiate is in the Irish DNA. When Mary McAleese was president she used to talk about the Irish ‘meitheal’ mentality, that when the harvest was ready the entire community would help bring it in,” says Redmond.
This community element is important to US companies that locate here, he points out, which is why, in turn, those companies have traditionally been keen to engage at community level. Research into the social contribution made by US companies in Ireland, undertaken in 2012, found that some 4,000 community projects were supported by US companies here.
“US companies coming here don’t just have a legal licence to operate here, but a social and community licence to do so. They are always blown away by the help they get from all aspects of the community, from local authorities to local schools, a real willingness to be of assistance. It means that when people come here, they love it. That’s a real strategic advantage Ireland has.”
It is part of the reason Ireland has been able to establish global leadership across sectors such as pharmaceuticals, data services, medical technology and information and communications technology. “It is this clustering approach that leads to exciting innovations,” Redmond says.
There are practical advantages to locating here, such as the fact that our time zone makes it possible for team leaders to manage teams ranging from the US west coast to the Far East with relative ease.
Ireland is also the only English speaking country in the eurozone, and a gateway to the EU’s 500 million population. Economic and political stability is very important too, he says, as is the ease of access to decision-makers that comes of being a small, social country.
That, allied to our ‘can do’ attitude, ensures that despite having a population of just 4.6 million, Ireland has attracted US companies that employ 140,000 people directly here, plus another 100,000 indirectly through suppliers.
This puts the total value of US investment in Ireland at
310 billion, “which is bigger than total US investment in the BRIC countries combined. That’s a massive strategic vote of confidence,” he says.
And when they come, US companies tend to stay. IBM has been here 60 years, starting with just three people here and now employing 4,000. What’s more, those 4,000 “are at the very leading edge” of IBM’s activities, he says.
“That’s what gets a cluster effect going. For example, Google’s success in the digital space has led to all other players wanting to be in Dublin’s digital docklands too, leading to enormous vibrancy. We’ve seen that replicated right across the country, whether in relation to pharma or cyber security in Cork or med tech in Galway. Our role at the American Chamber is to be the voice of these great US companies operating in Ireland, and our mission is to ensure Ireland remains the global location of choice for US business investment.
