Attracting information technology investment to Ireland’s branch plant economy

This chapter examines the experience of attracting information technology-related investment to Ireland. It provides some of the more important information technology sectors associated with inward investment, including software, internationally traded financial services, data processing and telemarketing. The spatial patterns of this inward investment revealing varying levels of success in bringing about regional development is also examined. The greater part of branch-plant investment in Ireland is in relatively high technology areas such as electronics and pharmaceuticals, which limits the potential for increasing linkages with the indigenous sector. If there is a policy strategy in Ireland for exploiting the potential presented by the information and communication technologies for economic development, such a strategy must be inferred more from recent trends in inward investment than from clear statements in policy documents. The main sectors providing such investment to date have been software, internationally traded financial services, data processing and telemarketing.