Good afternoon everyone. Amazon is one of the great innovators in modern industry, so I’m delighted to be here today to open your new ‘Shannon Building’ and to officially welcome your commitment to 1,000 new jobs in Ireland. I had the pleasure of visiting Amazon HQ in Seattle last year and welcomed the opportunity to discuss your ambitious plans for the future.
One of the greatest geniuses in American history, a scientist who was also a politician, was Benjamin Franklin. He believed that ‘when you are finished changing, you’re finished’.
The genius of Amazon is that it has never finished changing. You embrace change, and the transformative power of those changes has propelled you to the very top. What began as an online bookstore is now a multi-billion dollar online retailer, a leader in cloud computing, a creator of original content, and so much more besides.
In Ireland, we have adopted Franklin’s advice as our guiding principle, and it has helped our evolution from being an inward looking, insular place at the edge of Europe, to a multicultural and globalised country, a melting pot of nationalities, proud to engage with the world.
Today, Ireland is one of the most globalised and open economies in the world. And by believing and investing in Ireland you have helped in that transformation.
You are also helping us to meet our ambition of making Dublin the tech Capital of Europe.
Since the invention of the silicon chip, computing technology has evolved rapidly. From the development of central mainframes, to the production of personal PCs, and now onto the cloud, Ireland has positioned itself at the forefront of technological innovation.
Our industrial policy has embraced both new technology and innovators such as Amazon Web Services. Today, businesses, from start-ups to established enterprises are adopting the cloud in ever increasing numbers. The public sector is also.
We believe the advent of cloud computing, matched with our investment in high speed broadband, will bring about the next step change in how businesses operate.
Our priority in Government is to facilitate an environment where businesses can stay competitive and new jobs created in the businesses of tomorrow.
Today there are more than 2.2 million people at work here in Ireland, and the next set of figures will show that we have more people working now than at any point in our history.
We have sustainable growth and we want to use this to improve the lives of all our people and all parts of the country.
Whenever I talk about our economy and society, I tend to do so in terms of six principles.
The first is prudent management of the public finances and reducing our national debt. Last year, for the first time in a long time, we ran a budget surplus, and we reduced the national debt as a percentage of GDP.
Second, we want to continue to raise living standards in a sustainable way for all our citizens, reducing the cost of public services.
The third is achieving full employment with good jobs. We are approaching full employment, so our emphasis now is on good jobs, jobs that pay the bills so people can aspire to home ownership and have pensions so they can plan for the future.
Your announcement today of 1,000 new highly skilled full time jobs are exactly the kind of jobs we are looking for.
Since you opened your first office in Ireland in September 2004, you have broadened and deepened your commitment and investment in Ireland.
A significant milestone was when Amazon Web Services opened its first EU region in Ireland in 2006. This played a significant role in the growth of our data centres infrastructure.
It is encouraging to see the number of start-ups and small businesses here today who are telling their story. What is striking is how cloud computing is removing physical barriers for small companies with big ideas. We want innovative Irish companies to scale quickly and sell their services globally.
Our fourth principle is investing in infrastructure. With Project Ireland 2040 we have an ambitious ten-year plan to invest €116 billion in our public infrastructure.
This means investment in housing, healthcare facilities, education, broadband, transport and climate change. It’s a long-term strategic approach and it provides the clarity and certainty that businesses require in order to plan ahead with confidence.
The backbone of the cloud revolution is data centres that power new applications and services. The presence of data centres in Ireland is a good thing. They form part of our essential infrastructure for the future.
As a reflection of the priority Government places on data centres, in October 2017 we agreed to a strengthened Strategic Policy Framework for the continued development of data centres in Ireland.
We also recently published a Policy Statement on Data Centres which recognises that in addition to job creation, they also generate significant added economic benefit.
We all know why that’s the case. They provide a range of services to other firms that are involved in production, research and development, marketing, sales, service, and support activities, and they do so in locations with no physical or geographical connection to the data centre.
Of course, there is a balance to be struck. We need to take account of community and public concerns around individual projects and ensure timely decision making in the planning stage.
We want to amend the planning process for certain data centres so we can accelerate decision-making. We are also examining judicial review timelines on planning decisions so that we can give greater certainty to investing companies.
I know that Amazon has engaged on this subject and we welcome your input into our deliberations.
The fifth principle is our commitment to reforming and modernising our public services. This year we are spending over €15 billion on health, representing the highest ever level of expenditure and one of the highest per-head anywhere in the world, and we are spending over €10 billion on education.
The next wave of reform in the public service will embrace cloud services, where appropriate, so that we can provide new and better services to the public.
The sixth principle relates to our role internationally, as an island at the centre of the world.
We see ourselves not as an island at the edge of a continent, but an island that’s at the centre of a connected and globalised world.
We are at the heart of the common European home we helped to build, committed to multilateralism as the best way to solve the world’s many problems.
These six principles shape our plans and they are ambitious, far-reaching and imaginative for the future.
They need to be, because around the world there are uncertainties and risks in a rapidly changing global economy.
We cannot predict exactly what impacts Brexit and the broader international shift in attitudes to trade, tax and globalisation will have.
However we are involved in intensive preparations and contingency planning for whatever happens.
Ireland is now a digital economy hot-spot and we are ambitious to do more. We are the location of choice for strategic business activities of global ICT companies, with the reputation of being at the heart of ICT in Europe. Special credit must go to the IDA and Martin Shanahan for all their work to make this a reality.
Digital technologies are now becoming a reality for all businesses – opening opportunities to deliver customised products and services, to reach new markets, to develop new business models and to embed efficiencies.
Amazon’s growing presence here for over a decade and your commitment to further growth is a vote of confidence in Ireland and our people.
Before I finish, I am delighted to see the President of IT Tallaght, Thomas Stone, here, and I welcome the new partnership between Amazon Web Services and IT Tallaght. This will help train new data centre technicians, and is exactly the kind of partnership Government encourages. This new training programme is an endorsement of our country’s talent and I’m delighted that you are also funding a bursary programme for 20 students.
IT Tallaght, with IT Blanchardstown and DIT will soon form a new University of Technology for Dublin.
I understand you are also working with several of Irish colleges and universities as part of your Educate and Academy programmes to provide students and educators with technology and training resources. By investing in the next generation, you are helping to shape our future success.
As Stephen Hawking suggested, ‘intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.’ At Amazon you imagine what needs to be done differently, and then you make those changes. As a Government we will help you in your work, and we look forward to developing our relationship in the years ahead.
Thank you.