The amount of Foreign Direct Investment has been on an upward trend globally over the last few years and Ireland has seen the benefits. In fact, foreign owned organisations created almost 20,000 jobs on Irish soil last year.
According to IBM’s 2017 Global Locations Trends report, for the past 6 years in a row Ireland has been named the best country worldwide for attracting high value FDI, ranking us above affluent markets such as Denmark and Switzerland.
From FinTech to Pharma companies, Ireland is increasingly proving its ability to attract interest from oversea investors. These are just some of the industries FDI is creating diverse job opportunities in right now:
Technology
According to our recent Employment Monitor, over ½ of employers believe that the majority of FDI is being put into the tech sector. This is unsurprising considering the number of tech companies that are extending their operations in Ireland. This year Google opened its seventh Dublin office, while Indeed.com is adding 500 new jobs and Microsoft is creating 800 at its EMEA Inside Sales Organisation in Dublin.
In the Fintech space, First Data has opened its international R&D headquarters in Nenagh, and Mastercard is also expanding its presence in Ireland with 175 new jobs ranging from blockchain specialists to information security experts. Its R&D operation, Mastercard Labs has its headquarters in Dublin.
Financial Services
Financial Services is soon to be the only English-Speaking country in the Euro zone. Paired with our highly educated workforce Dublin and Ireland as a whole is hugely attractive to Finance FDI.
Northern Trust is expanding operations in Limerick, creating 400 new jobs while Hedgeserv is growing in Cork. Other considerable sources of FDI and new job openings include Bank of America & JP Morgan.
Pharma
FDI from the pharma sector is not new to Ireland with 10 out of 10 top pharma companies operating here. For 2018, MSD is investing €280m to expand production facilities at their plants in Carlow & Cork. Similarly, Janssen is planning an expansion at its Cork facility which will create 200 new jobs. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is creating 300 skilled roles in Limerick, investing up to €100 million.
While Dublin is the only city in the country with an international scale of FDI, the regions are getting an increased focus and more companies are looking at building their presence outside of Dublin.
Engineering
Engineering is another sector enjoying consistent FDI interest with up to 180 foreign owned companies generating €4.2 billion in annual exports based in Ireland. Stripe, the payments service firm founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison and headquartered in San Francisco, are opening their first engineering centre outside of the US in Dublin this year.
The most in demand jobs within Engineering right now are Validation Engineers, Process Engineers, Chemical Engineers and Skilled Trade Professionals.
FDI growth in Ireland is exceeding expectations, with the IDA achieving its target figure 2 years ahead of schedule. This means more investment and ultimately more jobs for our workforce nationwide.