We reap Brexit jobs bonanza as big companies move in
MORE than 4,500 jobs have been created in Ireland as a result of Brexit, the IDA has said.
Bank of America, Barclays, Thomson Reuters and Morgan Stanley have all announced a new or expanded presence in the State in 2018.
The IDA said Ireland is proving an attractive location for these companies due to the State’s commitment to the European Union, its English-speaking population and the stable investment climate.
The figures were contained in the IDA’s 2018 report which showed that 229,057 were employed by multinationals last year, the highest number ever.
In additional, 22,785 jobs were created in foreign direct investment companies in 2018, however there was a total of 8,745 jobs lost resulting in a net gain of 14,040 jobs.
Enterprise Minister Heather Humphreys said the results showed how strongly Ireland was performing internationally.
‘I particularly welcome the gains made in deepening and growing investment outside of Ireland’s main cities, with the largest regional employment growth achieved in 17 years,’ she said.
According to the figures, 58% of all IDA client-supported jobs are now located outside of Dublin, with every region seeing gains. Dublin remains the largest area for total employment by multinational companies with 96,760 employed, followed by the south-west with 41,108. The midlands has the fewest number employed by FDI with just 5,720 but it had a 14% increase last year.
IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan said FDI has transformed Ireland adding that it continues to drive the economy.
‘Once again, the 2018 figures show a consistent pattern of extremely strong job creation amongst IDA client companies in recent years,’ said Mr Shanahan.
‘It is important to remember that only ten years ago, across 2008 and 2009, Ireland lost over 35,000 FDI jobs during the global financial crisis. This is a salutary reminder that we can take nothing for granted and we need to be vigilant, particularly in relation to our competitiveness.’
Mr Shanahan said that although the figures released yesterday were strong there are many significant risks facing Ireland in the future including potential impacts of decisions made by other larger economies.
‘Ireland is a small, open trading economy and increased nationalism and protectionism is likely to have an impact on future FDI figures.’ said Mr Shanahan.
‘Ten years on from the financial crisis, the global economy continues to grow at a steady pace but the OECD says global GDP growth has peaked and is slowing on the back of weaker trade growth and less supportive monetary and fiscal policies.’
OBVIOUSLY there are significant downsides to Brexit, with a no-deal scenario, in particular, set to cause considerable damage to our agricultural sector and to other exporters. Nobody is disputing the negative knock-on reverberations that the UK’s exit from Europe will inevitably bring.
However, as we have said in this newspaper before, there is also massive potential for an employment dividend for this country, a spin-off effect that has not, so far, been addressed with the required level of rigour.
Yes, it is encouraging to see that some 4,500 jobs were created here last year as a result of companies moving their operations from the UK to Ireland, but there is much more to be done in this regard.
For any company planning to relocate from the UK, Ireland should be the number-one choice. Geographically we are closer than anywhere else, and also come with the advantage of a shared language. On top of that we are, of course, familiar in myriad other ways.
So, as the March deadline looms ever closer, and we continue to prepare for the worst-case scenario, we must also be vigorous, aggressive even, in our endeavours to procure more jobs for Ireland.