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Speech by an Taoiseach, Mr. Enda Kenny, T.D, at Indeed jobs announcement, Indeed's EMEA Headquarters, St. Stephen’s Green

I would like to start by welcoming Chris Hyams, your President, to Dublin once again for this great occasion.

It is great to be here to take part in this significant announcement of 500 new jobs for Indeed, building on top of your substantial workforce here in Ireland.

The scale of your company is staggering, as is your growth rate since coming to Ireland in 2012.

I attended your jobs announcement back in November 2015 - when you announced that you would grow your workforce in Ireland from 200 people to 500 - I understand that within 12 months that target was reached.

Today’s announcement of a further expansion is an additional boost for Dublin. Your continued and rapid investment in Ireland shows your confidence in the strength of our offering, especially in the deep pool of talent that Ireland has to offer.
I can assure you that your confidence in Ireland is not misplaced.
Ireland prides itself on attracting high quality FDI, such as yourselves, to our shores.

IBM’s Global Locations Trends Report for 2016 ranked Ireland first for the quality of FDI for the fifth year in a row, highlighting our continued ability to attract high-value investment projects, like the one we are marking here today.

This is a wonderful tribute to the work of IDA Ireland. The highest level of employment in IDA client companies in its 67 year history was achieved in 2016. Almost 12,000 net new jobs were created by foreign companies here last year.

We have worked hard to make Ireland one of the best places in the world to do business, and we will continue to make the country as attractive as possible, across a range of business needs.

Our pool of highly skilled people from which companies can draw, gives Ireland a great advantage. We in Government strive to ensure that our educational institutions are keeping up with industry trends; our National Skills Strategy and recent Action Plan for Education reinforce our commitment to meeting industries skills needs.

At the start of the month, I launched the Action Plan for Jobs 2017. We have set a target of creating an additional 45,000 jobs this year. I am delighted that the jobs being announced today will contribute towards this goal.

Forbes magazine rankings for doing business for 2016 placed Ireland 4th in the world for the second year running. This ranking is testament to Ireland’s favourable business climate.

Maybe it is not so surprising, therefore, that Ireland is home to:

- 9 of the top 10 global software companies;
- 9 of the top 10 US technology companies;
- All of the top 10 ‘Born on the Internet’ companies;
- 9 of the top 10 global pharmaceutical firms;
- 15 of the 20 top global medical technologies companies.

In continuing to make the country as attractive as possible, we relentlessly improve our offering in order to best manage external challenges.
Brexit of course remains the biggest challenge facing our country and we intend to continue to deal with the issues arising in a way that best protects the best interests of Ireland.

I want to reiterate that we remain a strong and committed member of the EU. Irish people and Irish businesses appreciate the many advantages of EU membership, including free movement, bilateral trade agreements providing market access opportunities and a common predictable legal and regulatory framework.

We will continue to have access to a Single Market of 27 Member States with 450 million people and we will also continue to lead efforts to break down trade barriers further.

Our offer as a country remains strong – a strong commitment to our EU membership, a competitive tax regime, policy stability, a business-friendly environment and a skilled workforce with high levels of education.

I thank you once again for your substantial vote of confidence in our offering. I wish you well in your latest expansion and I look forward to seeing you go from strength to strength.
Thank you.