00:00It's an incredibly valuable partnership that the U.S. has with Ireland.
00:05How do you look at it? What's the most valuable part?
00:07It must be U.S. companies investing in Ireland.
00:10I think, first of all, the most valuable part is our people.
00:13We have so much of a connection.
00:14We have 32 million people who have Irish heritage in the U.S.,
00:18and that is getting stronger in terms of growing the relationship.
00:21But in business, we're now the fifth lead FDI investor in the U.S. economy.
00:26And what's very striking, this week we're announcing over €6 billion of further investment
00:31with a number of our companies from Enterprise Ireland growing our footprint here.
00:34We have about 200,000 people employed right across the 50 states,
00:38and that's one of the key things in some very rural areas.
00:41And as a government, we're very much committed to growing the bilateral relationship
00:44to get benefit on both sides.
00:45So on the other side of tech companies coming in,
00:48I wonder what you then make of headlines like we've seen this morning
00:51of Meta laying off 20% of their employees, saying it's because of AI.
00:55A lot of these tech giants are moving towards that world,
00:58saying we need less employees because of our use of this technology.
01:01Just given how present they are in the Irish economy, does that concern you?
01:05Well, what we're trying to do is to lean into the opportunity that AI presents.
01:08So in relation to where you have vulnerable workers,
01:11what we've done is we're really training, transformational training,
01:14of a number of vulnerable cohorts to try and ensure that they can lean
01:17into the benefits of AI in the future.
01:19And one of the striking things, our key agency, the IDA,
01:22which is responsible for foreign direct investment getting into our country,
01:25so bringing American-U.S. companies, which imply about 245,000 people,
01:29into Ireland, we set a target over four years that we train and upskill
01:3440,000 people over the four years.
01:36In year one, we've hit 33,000.
01:38And that really shows you that transformational change,
01:41that you want to embed the opportunity at the heart of the economy
01:44and give people the chance to get the high-value aspect of artificial intelligence,
01:48which is very important as well.
01:50It is surprising to hear that Ireland is the fifth biggest FDI investor in the U.S.
01:55I mean, that's absolutely massive, only behind countries like Germany and Japan, right?
02:02How did that happen?
02:04Because Ireland is a relatively small country.
02:07I think the connection is key, but the U.S. obviously is a key market for companies to scale.
02:13And for us, getting new companies to come out, it's incredible to get into the U.S. market,
02:17which is very important.
02:18But also, I think the connection, we've built up a very strong ecosystem in Ireland.
02:22You mentioned semiconductors, the life science sector,
02:25very much cohorts that have academia working in partnership with industry,
02:30commercializing that research.
02:31And the tax system is very much supportive of research, development and innovation
02:35and trying to keep Ireland on the forefront of the innovation curve.
02:38And that's what the government is about, keeping those high-value jobs,
02:41trying to embed that ecosystem that we have, that rich vein of talent.
02:45And we look at Ireland, and you look at it as a segment of our population,
02:49one out of every five people that are working in Ireland now were not born in our country.
02:53You can go into some companies in the landscape in Dublin,
02:56there's 80, 90 different nationalities ever present in them.
02:59And that just shows you the talent pool that we have,
03:01and we want to grow and cement into the future.
03:03The world does seem to be moving in a more insular way,
03:06and it is a president of the United States that's pushed Europe to be more self-reliant.
03:10Has that changed at all, the incoming flow of both direct investment and talent over the past two years?
03:16No, we actually had a record year in our idea, an investment coming into Ireland last year,
03:22323 new investments.
03:23A quarter of them were new name investments, new companies coming in, which is very significant.
03:27But one thing I've experienced over the last number of months,
03:31despite the noise on the geopolitical landscape and the uncertainty,
03:34we only have to turn on our tellies, our phones, and see the huge uncertainty there is.
03:38The operating reality on the ground is trade continues to flow.
03:42If you look at between the US and the EU,
03:44every single day over €4 billion of goods and services flows over and back seamlessly across the Atlantic.
03:50And that's what we want to continue, continue that certainty,
03:53and ensure that citizens on both jurisdictions benefit for that.
03:57Because ultimately, that's why we're in politics,
03:58that's why we all do what we do, is to give citizens that benefit, that opportunity in life.
04:03And Ireland's Prime Minister, the Taoiseach, expected to meet with President Trump this week.
04:08What do you hope to get out of that meeting?
04:10I hope it continues to grow our relationship, that closeness.
04:13As we approach America 250, and if you look at the Declaration of Independence,
04:18incredible to say that three of the signatories, three of the 56, were born on the island of Ireland.
04:23You have so many people from politics, from building up these great cities across the US,
04:28the infrastructure, so many Irish people were core, front and central of that.
04:32And the message we'll be bringing to the President and our Prime Minister and Taoiseach,
04:35Micheál Martin, is we want to continue investing in your economy.
04:38We've over €6 billion now over the next four years.
04:41From Irish companies, they're going to be scaling, growing further.
04:44Places like Currie Group, that invest €1.5 billion in raw materials every single year across the US,
04:50in very rural parts.
04:51We have Smurford, West Rock, doing huge investment as well, and Glambia, CRH, Ryanair,
04:56a huge ordering with Boeing for over 300 max aircraft.
04:59That's what Ireland is about, investing in a two-way beneficial relationship.
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