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U.S. firms still favor Ireland

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The Chamber’s new president, Ciaran Ennis, said Tuesday that 66 percent of 110 U.S. companies reported that they hope to maintain or increase employment over the next 12 months, and 60 percent said they hope to increase investment in the same period.
Ennis is head of Marketing at IBM’s pan European Sales and Marketing center, which employs over 600 people at Ballycoolin in Blanchardstown, Co. Dublin.
There are more than 570 U.S. companies with Irish locations and Ennis said the country clearly is a “magnificent base” for future investment.
The United States is Ireland’s second biggest trading partner after Britain and its largest source of inward investment. U.S. firms employ nearly 90,000 people in Ireland.
The government, with the Industrial Development Authority, must focus on retaining existing companies and making sure investment continues and grows, said Ennis.
“As long as we retain the ability to perform higher value add activity and deliver higher productivity, a higher cost base can be justified,” he said.
However he warned that Ireland could not afford huge increases in cost bases.
“The increases we have seen over the past 12 to 18 months in the cost of telecommunications, utilities, insurance and transport are what make Ireland an expensive place to do business.
“Competition needs to be introduced and supported in these sectors as a matter of urgency,” he added.
Telecoms operator Eircom is among the latest companies to raise its prices, hiking fixed line rental costs earlier this month for the third time in a year.
Irish inflation was at over 5 percent a year ago but has since fallen to just below 2 percent.
Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips responded to the high cost of Irish labor earlier this month by moving 150 jobs to Poland.

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