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Good Morning Everyone
I am delighted to be here today to launch the ‘Above Ground’ construction for LinkedIn’s new International Headquarters and to mark LinkedIn’s 5th Anniversary in Ireland.
It marks another important milestone in the relationship between LinkedIn and Ireland. Since LinkedIn entered the Irish market in 2010 its workforce has grown exponentially.
LinkedIn now employs 900 people in Ireland, a 50% increase in its workforce over the past twelve months alone. With this new headquarters, there will be capacity to see their employee numbers grow to 1,200.
700 construction jobs have been supported by the project, a sector that has known very difficult times, but is recovering as the economy moves back into growth mode.
New Jobs Essential for our Recovery Plan
LinkedIn’s growth in Ireland over the last 5 years reflects the growth in jobs experienced by the economy since the Government took office.
Since we launched our Action Plan for Jobs in 2012 we have seen over 135,000 new jobs added to the economy. Unemployment is now down to a six year low of 8.9%.
New jobs are now powering Ireland’s recovery.
We are determined to keep this recovery going with our long term plan.
More people in work will create the resources to cut taxes for working people and invest in better services, creating a virtuous cycle of rising employment and improving living standards.
Reducing unemployment is key to this plan. This is why we have targeted the creation of over 220,000 new jobs by 2020 so that we can bring the unemployment rate down to 6%.
To keep moving in the right direction, the Government is committed to keeping Ireland attractive to new investment and new jobs.
That is why we prioritised many pro-growth and pro-job policies in the Budget for 2016.
To make work pay we are tackling the marginal tax rates on middle income earners in Ireland, and are reducing the marginal rate of tax to below 50% for all earners under €70,000.
It is my intention that we will continue to phase out the USC in future budgets, while also reforming the income tax system to cap the benefits for the highest earners and to keep the income tax system broad.
To encourage new research and innovation in Ireland we are launching a new best in class ‘Knowledge Development Box’ that will reduce the rate of corporation tax on qualifying innovative products and services developed in Ireland.
This will add to our competitive corporation tax rate and regime, our R&D tax credit regime, our supports for International property management, and together with our investments in research and talent should help ensure that Ireland remains among the leading innovation hubs for the future.
We are also dedicated to improving the environment for technology companies in Ireland.
Improving the availability of skills has been a priority in this regard with new courses launched for jobseekers retraining in IT roles. I also know that LinkedIn have been very successful in using the JobBridge programme to allow people to gain experience and improve their chances of winning a job.
Our European teams, both at official and political level, have been pushing hard for a successful conclusion to the discussions on a new digital single market for Europe. In response to the increasing presence of large technology companies being regulated in Ireland, we have doubled the budget and staffing resources of the Data Protection Commissioner in the past two years so that they can execute their duties in an efficient and timely manner.
The strength of our economic recovery – and the fact that we have the fastest growing economy in the EU – is a tribute to the people of Ireland, who have invested so much work and sacrifice into turning this country around.
We are determined that the efforts and the sacrifices they have made will not go to waste.
We are continuing to work to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to do business, so that we can create new jobs and encourage the type of sustained investment and growth shown by LinkedIn.
And on that note I would like to conclude by wishing you well and I look forward to hopefully coming back here in 2017 to help celebrate the opening of LinkedIn’s New International Headquarters.
Thank you.