Robot at IDA briefing could not distract from threats ahead

There was a touch of the Late Late Toy Show about IDA Ireland's 2016 results briefing in Dublin on Tuesday morning. An awkward touch, unfortunately.

Martin Shanahan, the IDA's chief executive, wanted to highlight Ireland's attractiveness as a destination for robotics investments. He kicked off proceedings by chatting with IBM's Watson robot about the record year IDA just had – an all-time high of 200,000 jobs, with 19,000 new ones created last year.

Seeing Shanahan, one of the State's most senior enterprise officials, interviewing a robot in a rehearsed skit was like watching Ryan Tubridy stumbling through a toy show segment. He was only missing the Christmas jumper.

Watson, his little legs dangling, was soon hauled out by his IBM handlers, but the robotics did not entirely end once he left the room. Mary Mitchell O'Connor, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, was next up at the lectern.

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Until a few minutes beforehand, the microphones had been acting up. Luckily for the Minister they were fixed in time for her to reel off the impressive job-creation numbers that have transpired on her watch.

Mitchell O’Connor, who was admirably phlegmatic about recent criticisms of her performance, lauded the creation of so many “real jobs, for real people, with real families”. While more than one in two new IDA-sourced jobs last year went outside Dublin, she still wanted to see more regional investment.

New investments

Shanahan, who held his composure after the Watson incident and another later technical glitch, drilled into the detail once the Minister’s spiel finished.

Employment in IDA clients was growing at its fastest rate since the turn of the millennium, he said. The IDA won 244 new investments last year, with 99 companies coming to Ireland for the first time and a net jobs increase of almost 12,000.

Yet over all the ostensibly good news there still hung a cloud – the putrid pall of Brexit and Trump.

Shanahan said some US companies may “hold off” making investment decisions until they see the detail of the new US president-elect’s trade regime. He insisted, however, that the IDA’s client companies had “no concerns” over their Irish investments, the value of which could be affected by Trump’s policies.

In response to a reporter’s question, Shanahan said he “hadn’t heard directly” of any concerns from banks considering a post-Brexit move to Ireland about the weight of Irish financial regulation.

According to Shanahan, many of these institutions would not wait until the end of negotiations between Britain and Europe, and would make their exit earlier. Many of those contemplating a switch away from London were at site-visit stage, he said, although he could not provide a figure for how many had visited Dublin.

UK market

He appeared resigned to losing some existing investments from companies that export from here mainly to the UK market. He did not clarify the extent of the threat, but suggested up to 100 IDA clients were “heavily exposed” to the UK market.

He also highlighted that the agency expected to win several investments in the pharma and tech sectors following Brexit.

Shanahan said there was a “strong pipeline” of new investments on the way, and insisted the momentum from 2016 would carry over into the first quarter of 2017. The global economic uncertainty meant it could be hazardous, however, to make predictions beyond this.

Shanahan insisted overall jobs growth in 2017 should still be “strong”. Music, presumably, to the ears of Mitchell O’Connor, who must already be looking forward to another triumphant results briefing in 12 months’ time.