Internet firms lead the way as Google is named as Ireland’s largest exporter

Google is the largest exporting company in the country with total exports for 2011 reaching €10.1bn, which is a 55% increase on the €6.5bn of exports posted by the internet giant in 2010.

Overall, the information and communication technology, life sciences and agri-food sectors performed strongly in 2011, according to the Irish Exporters Association’s (IEA) annual publication of the Top 250 Exporting Companies in Ireland.

Google’s performance is all the more remarkable considering it has been in the country for less than 10 years. It opened its European headquarters in Dublin in 2003 with a staff of 100. Google now employs close to 2000 people and is the internet behemoth’s largest operation outside the US.