While foreign multinationals make a valuable contribution, the success of the Irish economy “now depends very heavily on the progress of domestic business”, a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has concluded. In a research paper entitled Understanding recent trends in the Irish economy, economist John FitzGerald suggests that the economy here grew by about 5 per cent a year between 2013 and 2018. Foreign and domestic firms grew at a similar rate since the economy began to recover from the financial crisis in 2013, he said. “While the contribution to growth of foreign firms has been concentrated in the manufacturing, IT, financial and distribution sectors, the growth of the domestic sector has been spread across the economy,” the research suggested. In both the manufacturing and IT sectors, the contribution to NNP of domestic business is similar to that of foreign firms, it said.

Source: The Irish Times June 24, 2020 22:52 UTC