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Why Invest in Ireland?

Year after year, large multinationals as well as new and emerging companies are drawn to Irish shores. Ireland is now home to:

  • 3 of the Top 5 games companies
  • 8 of the Top 10 global ICT corporations
  • 9 of the Top 10 global pharmaceutical corporations
  • 17 of the Top 25 global medical device companies
  • More than 50% of the world’s leading financial services firms
  • 10 top “Born on the Internet” companies

How is it that Ireland, a small country with a population of little more than 4.5 million, continually attracts the world’s leading companies? We think the facts speak for themselves:

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012 ranks Ireland:

  • 1st for availability of skilled labour
  • 1st for flexibility and adaptability of workforce
  • 1st for investment incentives
  • 1st for attitudes towards globalisation
  • 2nd for business legislation – openness to foreign investors
  • 2nd for large corporations that are efficient by international standards
  • 2nd for adaptability of companies
  • 4th for corporate tax rate on profit and real corporate taxes

The top rankings do not stop there – Ireland has also been named: 

  • 1st for value of investment projects (IBM’s 2011 Global Location Trends Report)
  • 2nd for inward investment per capita (IBM’s 2011 Global Location Trends Report)
  • 2nd most attractive company globally for Foreign Direct Investment
  • The best place to invest in Western Europe (Global Best-to-Invest Rankings 2011 compiled by international magazine Site Selection)
  • The global leader for the availability of skills and the least difficult location globally in which to fill talent (the 2012 Talent Shortage Survey commissioned by the ManpowerGroup)

So far this year, over 40 European-based companies have announced plans to invest in Ireland or to expand already existing operations, including BSkyB; SAP; Smartbox; Sogeti; Culture Translate; iMosphere; Nimbles Apps; and ZMDI.