The US dollar's weakness was a more significant factor in Microsoft's Irish cost base than wage growth, according to Microsoft Ireland general manager Joe Macri.

In a presentation to the Irish Management Institute annual conference he said the company had concluded that the Republic was no longer a low-cost economy.

While the dollar's weakness was crucial to the company's Irish costs, Mr Macri welcomed assertions by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that the State was now a "high-wage" economy.