Housing and transport infrastructure are central to Ireland’s investment future

Ireland needs to boost capacity for more job creation as employment by US firms rises to 245,000 jobs, writes Paul Kelleher, vice-president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland

Paul Kelleher, vice president of engineering at QT Technologies Ireland Ltd (Qualcomm Ireland) and vice-president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland.

As US investment in Ireland continues to grow strongly, business focus is increasingly turning to the country’s capacity to support further expansion. Over the past year, employment by US companies in Ireland increased from 210,000 to 245,000 jobs, underlining both the strength of Ireland’s investment proposition and the growing pressure on the country’s infrastructure to support this growth.

In AmCham’s most recent FDI Insights survey, housing was ranked as the number one challenge Ireland must overcome for companies to expand, and the greatest risk to continued foreign direct investment over the next five years. For businesses seeking to grow their workforce, more than one third of respondents identified housing as the main barrier to hiring new talent.