‘Ireland must look at new ideas to attract investment’

IRELAND must continue to offer something distinctive to attract multinational companies and compete with emerging economies, the American Chamber of Commerce has warned.

Publishing a strategic paper on creating a commercialisation base, the organisation said the State was no different to any western economy at a crossroads in its development.

Nearly 100,000 people are employed in more than 580 US firms in Ireland, accounting for 70% of all Industrial Development Authority supported employment. At the same time thousands of jobs have been lost, with hundreds under threat, as multinational companies move their operations to cheaper workforces in eastern Europe and Asia.

“In today’s global trading environment, intense competition from emerging economies means we need to look to new areas of innovation and added value to sustain our economic success story,” said Jim O’Hara, president of the American Chamber of Commerce.

The strategic paper, Retuning the Growth Engine, sets out a blueprint for co-operation between the Irish government, Irish business and the base of US multinationals in order to build an innovation base to underpin Ireland’s future sustainable growth. It will be presented to Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheal Martin, this morning.

Mr O’Hara welcomed Government initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for an advanced knowledge economy such as the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, and the National Development Plan 2007-2013.