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Jobs in US firms in Ireland up 15pc

Friday, February 15 14:07:47

Employment in US companies operating in Ireland is up 15pc in the past five years despite the global downturn, according to Peter Keegan, President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.

Speaking at the American Chamber's Annual President's Lunch, Mr. Keegan said that since the start of the crisis five years ago, employment in US multinationals in Ireland has grown by almost 15pc to 115,000 people in 700 companies. In addition US investment has increased 25pc in last 5 years, bringing total investment in Ireland to over $188 billion.

"This is a stellar achievement given global economic conditions. US multinationals stuck by Ireland and played their part in full. We are not here just for the good times we are ready and willing to play our role when the going gets tough. The strength and on-going success of Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland is playing a crucial role in Ireland's economic recovery. That's part of the reason FDI is so important to economies and it also goes some way towards explaining why competition for FDI from other countries is intensifying with each passing year," he said.

Mr. Keegan said that in the competition for foreign investment, other countries are improving their tax competitiveness all the time and Ireland cannot be complacent. He said that the international tax debate has moved way beyond our headline rate. "Consolidation of the tax base, a Financial Transaction Tax and Transfer Pricing are all under the microscope as never before". "Earlier this week we saw the publication of the OECD's interim report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting. Clearly there is an appetite to review current tax policies to ensure they are effective in a constantly changing global environment. However, any change will involve a fundamental rethink of international tax principles and we can anticipate much discussion and debate as the OECD formulates proposals for its Action Plan to be published in June."

"In any such debates, the Government must not shy away from robustly protecting our competitive tax regime. We can stand firm in the knowledge that our tax regime is internationally recognised as fair, transparent and just. Ireland is not a tax haven and this is confirmed by the OECD and by the many tax treaties we have in place. Investors in Ireland build businesses of substance. We should not feel the need to be defensive or in any way embarrassed about this legitimate use of tax as a competitive tool," said Mr Keegan.

"Our competitiveness has been slowly improving, climbing four places to 20th in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook in 2012. But when you consider we were comfortably in the top ten in this important measure of international competitiveness less than 10 years ago, it is clear we still have a long way to go."