International Island – Ireland’s FDI community in the new economy

Today we're talking about the Foreign Direct Investment community in Ireland, from the impacts of the current crisis to how we are positioned to get back on a path to growth. A sector that employs 245,000 people directly, and many more indirectly, the change in Ireland’s economy can be quite neatly traced back to the 80’s and 90’s when a proactive policy was put in place to attract Foreign Direct Investment, with IDA Ireland leading the charge. We talk to Mary Buckley, Executive Director at IDA Ireland, and Paul Ryan, a senior director of engineering operations in Qualcomm, one of those Irish subsidiaries of FDI companies generating such vital economic activity. We're also joined by our very own Julie Ryan, Head of Customised Solutions in IMI, to discuss the challenges in the FDI sector she’s gleaned from IMI's research, and the Leading with Strategic Intent programme her customised solutions team put together and ran last year. For more information on the programme, go to www.imi.ie. These conversations we're recorded in August 2020.