Ireland a Magnet for US Tech Firms

Every time President Donald Trump rails against big “pharma” over jobs that have been shipped overseas, his pledge to streamline regulations and lower taxes to lure them back to the US prompts a grim response on the other side of the Atlantic, NewsIreland reported. More than 50,000 people are employed with pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises here in Ireland, most of them working for US companies. Baxter, a medical equipment manufacturer based in Deerfield, Ill., employs about 1,000 people in Ireland. Pfizer, Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson all have substantial Irish operations. Dublin’s Silicon Docks neighborhood earned its nickname after Facebook, Google, Twitter and other US tech companies set up in glossy offices close to the River Liffey. They are among an estimated 700 US companies which, attracted by Ireland’s low corporate tax rate and English-speaking workforce, have helped drive a multinational invasion on the Emerald Isle that once turned it into the “Celtic Tiger” of Europe.