Ireland has secured 179 investments from foreign multinational companies so far this year that are set to create 10,000 jobs, up from the 8,900 secured during the same period last year, the country’s inward investment agency said on Wednesday.
Ireland is hugely reliant on the taxes and jobs of foreign multinationals. They have almost doubled their workforce in the last decade to make up around 11% of the entire labour market, but jobs growth has stalled over the past two-and-a-half years.
The agency’s half-year results do not take job losses at multinationals into account. The number of new investments were up from the 131 secured in the first half of 2024 and included 52 companies investing in Ireland for the first time, IDA Ireland said.
The decades-old model of attracting jobs from mainly U.S. firms in sectors such as technology and pharmaceuticals has been further threatened by President Donald Trump’s sweeping economic policies and pledge to bring more production back to the U.S.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin)
