ICT sector 'remains strong'

IRELAND remains an attractive location for information and communication technology (ICT) investment but more work needs to be done to improve the take-up of science in schools, according to industry leaders.

ICT Ireland, the industry representative body run by employers group IBEC, said Ireland's ICT sector remained strong and that the current transitional period should be viewed as “a blip on the radar”.

ICT Ireland said the top 10 ICT companies in Ireland, which include Intel, Microsoft and IBM, were employing more people now than they had been at the start of 2000. Employment in the sector now catered for over 90,000 people, almost five times as many as in 1990.

The group said Ireland's attractiveness stemmed from the low corporation tax rate and availability of science and engineering graduates, as well as a favourable regulatory environment. But there was a need to sustain this level of attractiveness in the future by addressing the fall in the number of secondary school-goers who were taking science. There was also a need to make computer training a more central part of the curriculum. This would improve computer literacy and encourage the uptake of ICT-related courses.

ICT Ireland warned of the threat to the economy if ICT companies, who had invested heavily here, decided to pull out. Dell, Microsoft and Intel together account for almost 20% of total exports and contribute to Ireland's status as the biggest exporter of software in the world. ICT Ireland said the industry was making strong progress and that, contrary to some perceptions, the technology boom in recent years was not a passing trend.