Varadkar predicts tech sector will continue to grow in medium term

The tech sector will continue to grow in the medium term despite job losses being announced last year, the Taoiseach has predicted.

In a briefing for political journalists Leo Varadkar said that a “slightly more positive picture” emerged around the sector in the run-in to Christmas after announcements that Meta, Stripe, Twitter, Intel and others had signalled layoffs or temporary furloughing of workers in the autumn.

He said after a difficult autumn period there were no “early warnings at the moment of digital job losses”.

“The tech sector is downsizing internationally; we’re not going to be immune from that here,” Mr Varadkar said. “A slightly more positive picture (has emerged) perhaps (in) the last few weeks than would have been the case six or 12 weeks ago,” he said, adding that a lot of tech companies were still recruiting.

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“It’s a situation that we’ll obviously be keeping under review, I’m certain, though, that in the medium to long term we’re going to see further growth in the tech sector. The future is digital. All of those technologies we’re going to see more of in the future, not less,” he said, arguing that Leaving Cert students and school-leavers should strongly consider science, technology, maths and engineering “because there’s going to be more jobs in those areas, not less”.

Last month Mr Varadkar conceded that the housing crisis was a “drag” on inward investment, which is regularly raised with him by executives in multinationals during meetings when discussing potential investments in Ireland.

Last week The Irish Times reported that officials in inward investment agency IDA Ireland have expressed anxiety about the impact of the housing crisis on big business, saying the lack of accommodation was “not positive” for Ireland.

With building commencements slowing down in 2022 despite increased construction targets for 2023, internal records from the State’s inward investment agency show how companies raising housing issues had described an “unfavourable” situation.

IDA Ireland ranks among the most powerful public agencies because of links with 1,700 international companies that employ some 300,000 people, which equates to almost 12 per cent of the State’s 2.55 million workforce.

“As you can guess IDA’s clients are worried about the housing and in particular the rental situation across the country, and I [would] just like to get an update from you on where you feel our rental policy is at and any new developments,” said one email to the Department of Housing from Tommy Fanning, IDA head of strategic policy.