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Ireland is a special case because its economy revolves around tax avoidance. As a multinational you credit your Irish division with all your European profits in
by shubb 4y ago
Ireland is a special case because its economy revolves around tax avoidance. As a multinational you credit your Irish division with all your European profits in your financials and claim the German operation is making a big loss - moving your tax burden to Ireland where it can be taxed cheaply or moved to tax havens.
This relies on doing certain finishing work in Ireland so that all the companies IP and operations can be credited there. You need your servers there, or shadow managers to sign off sales and investments made in Germany so that the sale can be credited to Ireland. So you need to hire in Dublin specifically.
e.g. but not the totality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun_economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun_economics
"in 2019, the IMF estimated 60 per cent of Irish foreign direct investment was "phantom"
My main point here is that you can't use it as an example for this discussion as it is a special case.
- closewith 4y agoYou absolutely can use Dublin as an example, because the vast majority of software development jobs are not "finishing work" for engineering performed elsewhere. That's a myopic and absurd claim. Dublin is in itself an engineering hub. Ireland is certainly a low-tax haven for companies operating in the EU, but that isn't the sole reason there are 50,000 developer roles in the city. Your sources do not support your claim.
- calmoo 4y agoSure, a lot of foreign investment in Ireland has to do with tax loopholes, but you're not answering the question fully here. Tech companies also like Ireland because it has a large, highly-educated fluent English speaking workforce. We also have a high cost of living here, which contributes to the higher salaries. Ireland is not really a special case - London doesn't have the same tax implications yet it has similar (if not higher) tech salaries compared to Dublin.