Time to hail multinationals’ role in boosting prosperity

For as long as most of us can remember, multinational companies, particularly those coming from the US, have been a very important part of the Irish economy.

If I had been asked how far back that went, after some thought, I would have suggested sometime in the mid- to late-70s after Michael Killeen took over as chief executive of the IDA.

There have been many announcements in the last few weeks involving pharmaceutical companies investing in new jobs here, including Merck’s MSD in Cork and Carlow.