Good morning everyone.
I am delighted to be here this morning to officially open LogMeIn’s new office and in particular to welcome the announcement of 90 new jobs.
I would also like to extend a particularly warm welcome to those of you who have travelled from the U.S. to be with us here today.
The fact that you have chosen Ireland for your EMEA Headquarters, and have steadily built up your work force is very significant for us.
I consider this as a vote of confidence in Ireland.
Foreign Direct Investment is a key element of our economic strategy here in Ireland, and one which is assisting us in turning our economy around and providing high quality jobs for our people. This policy is working, and working well.
New figures released last week have shown how we created 90,000 new jobs since we launched the Action Plan for Jobs in 2012.
As a result we have almost reached our original target of creating 100,000 additional jobs by 2016. This will be an important milestone as we work to restore all the jobs lost during the economic crisis and to reach full employment by 2018, two years ahead of schedule.
Ireland’s economy is an open and business-friendly one with a minimum of red tape or administrative hurdles. Dublin represents a great location for your continued European expansion, given the unique combination of a highly educated, mobile savvy workforce, and a growing innovation ethos made up of some the biggest names in technology.
But it doesn’t happen by accident. From the time of the formation of this Government four years ago, we have put a range of specific measures in place to ensure we have the right conditions for technology companies such as yours.
And we are now succeeding in laying the seeds for sustainable growth while creating a strong enterprise economy.
Our Action Plan for Jobs process has included major reforms on Big Data, Data Analytics and ICT Skills as well as a range of other initiatives to help businesses like your thrive in Ireland.
For example, under a new National Talent Drive, we will increase higher education ICT graduates by 60% and provide 1,250 extra ICT places for students in 2015.
We will target almost 14,000 annual science, technology, engineering and maths graduates by 2018. These targets are aimed at ensuring that three quarters of job openings can be filled from the Irish education system by 2018.
We will complete the rollout of 2,000 Trading Online Vouchers, through the Local Enterprise Office network; the Vouchers aim to get more SMEs trading online, in order to grow their sales, exports and ultimately jobs.
In the area of Data Protection, we will also establish a forum for dialogue with industry and civil society, and we will continue our active engagement in ongoing EU negotiations to ensure that Ireland has a best-in-class Data Protection system.
As for Intellectual Property, we aim to double the number of patents, industrial designs registered and other IP management activities of firms, and we will introduce a new Knowledge Development Box to ensure the tax environment is optimised for innovative enterprises located here.
Cloud computing is a key growth sector, and we have implemented a number of changes to support the development of a strong cloud computing industry here. Mobility and cloud computing are among the most transformative and fastest growing sectors in the technology industry, and your company is at the forefront of this rapidly expanding area.
Ireland is now regarded by many as the ‘Internet Capital of Europe’. Amongst the big names, we have Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, AOL, eBay and Amazon all located here in Ireland, with many located here in the Silicon Docks.
This vibrant tech community encourages new innovation, invention and investment here in Ireland.
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate LogMeIn on this great announcement, and I can assure you all that in the Irish Government, you have a strongly supportive partner. I wish you well in all of your endeavours and I look forward to a great future together.
Thank you
ENDS.