The multinationals

The multinationals and anxiety disorder.

Anyone notices the obsession with multinationals such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, and the like.

There is an almost obsession that they are going to level Ireland the latest manifestation of this is they are going to leave because of covid and work from home.

Every single issue that arises in Ireland will have someone in a panic saying the multinational will leave its nearly and anxiety disorder at this.

Has anyone come across another country with the same obsession with the multinational.

Bit rambly but I am sure I have a point in there somewhere!

Sonics2k

It's silly, but a little understandable. Multinational companies are massive employers in the country.

Remember when Dell shut down a factory in Limerick years ago and basically entire towns were suddenly unemployed

EmmetSpiceland

..

Hamachi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058219669/the-multinationals

Do you or any of your family work in one of multinationals?

Do you have a mortgage to pay, with your source of income dependent upon continued employment in a multinational?

Do you have a young family to support, who rely on said source of income?

I suspect that the answer to all three questions is 'no' and that you are comfortably semi- / fully-retired. It doesn't take much empathy to understand why many ordinary people have skin in the game here.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118220032#Comment_118220032

The multinationals were going to leave in the dot com bubble of 1999, the downturn of 2008 ect and they are still here my point is that it has become a borderline obsession for some out of all proportion to the likelihood of it actually happening.

Hamachi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118220125#Comment_118220125

Have you ever worked in a multinational? I have a fairly senior role in one of the larger tech companies. The global landscape is highly competitive. Ireland retains our edge through a combination of a solid talent pipeline, a productive workforce, a decent business environment, and until recently, our attractive corporate tax rates.

There is a huge amount of work that goes on under the surface to ensure that Ireland remains competitive. If this work wasn't happening, I can assure you that many of the MNCs would relocate in a heartbeat. Frankly, you're speaking from a place of utter ignorance.

jetsonx

The obsession is rightly justified.

Tax returns from these keep the country running.

Unfortunately, we do not have an indigenous base of large scale businesses.

There is a difference bewteen an evidence based consern/planning for the future verses an obessision with the issue.

Sonics2k

But it's not an obsession, it's a legitimate concern. Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are just 3 of hundreds of multi-national companies that employee tens of thousands of Irish people. Shopify have about 1000 people in Ireland, Apple have even more, Stripe have just taken on another hundred developers and are bringing in a load more product specialists. There's Vodafone and Three, which count as multi-national companies employing thousands too.

Whether we like it or not, due to choices made by the Govt in the past with corporation taxes, we attracted a lot of large companies to the country and they unfortunately contribute an awful lot to our taxes and incomes.

While it's extremely unlikely for all of those companies to pull out, many of them have no loyalty to a particular country and will go somewhere that makes them more money.

global23214124

I'm employed by of the tech companies so if I heard they were going to start pulling out then I might be stuck for work or might have to change industry. They are generally a well paid industry and half their work staff are filling the shoebox rooms in Dublin.