The Southwest is an ideal gateway for multinationals looking to expand and grow from Ireland. Not surprisingly, it represents the largest area for foreign direct investment outside of Dublin.
Infrastructure investment over recent years has helped the region to flourish, whether via roads such as the N22 Macroom bypass and the upgrade of the Dunkettle Interchange, or in education, such as the creation of Munster Technological University, which amalgamated six campuses under one region-wide umbrella in 2021. Together with University College Cork, which provides close to 40,000 students per year, these institutions are engines of talent for businesses in the area. Cork and Kerry airports also provide essential onward connectivity to other parts of Ireland and beyond.The region is made up of counties Cork and Kerry. Cork City, the county capital, is Ireland’s second city. County Kerry is located between the cities of Cork and Limerick. The combined population of the two counties is 740,000, based on the 2022 census.
A history of welcoming multinationals
The region has a long established reputation for supporting large-scale projects in pharmaceuticals, life sciences and medtech, technology, international financial services and engineering. Some of the companies in the latter industry have close links to the pharma sector as suppliers.And the investment is continuing: just one example is Merck’s €440 million expansion of its site in Carrigtwohill, which it announced in 2022.In fact, 7 of the top 20 biopharma companies are active in the Southwest, including global names such as Pfizer, MSD, Lilly, AbbVie, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Gilead.
Johnson & Johnson’s biologics site at Ringaskiddy in Cork has grown over the past few years to become a key part of the company’s global manufacturing network. Kathy Wengel, the company’s chief global supply chain officer, described the Cork facilities as “at the cutting-edge of delivering healthcare solutions, which is an important part of our Credo commitment to provide the highest quality products to patients”.
Medtech is also strongly represented in the Southwest through Stryker, Boston Scientific, Alcon, and J&J MedTech (formerly DePuy Synthes). Like their pharma counterparts, these companies are building on their original investments; in 2022, Stryker expanded its additive manufacturing site in Cork.
Another well embedded sector of scale in the region is international financial services, particularly in the area of asset management. Among the companies with operations in the area are BNY, Clearstream, Alter Domus, Citco, and HedgeServ.
The Southwest, and Cork in particular, can also lay claim to being Ireland’s cybersecurity capital. Over the past 15 years, it has become a magnet for companies like McAfee, Trellix, Trend Micro, eSentire, Proofpoint, and Tigera. Aided by the support of UCC and MTU in developing graduates with cybersecurity skills matched to industry needs, the sector has gone from strength to strength. So much so that companies in other industries now see the value of setting up cybersecurity teams in Ireland with international responsibilities. JRI America, which provides IT services to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, has a security operations centre in Tralee, county Kerry.
A pipeline of skilled talent to tap into
Across all industries, the quality of people is the biggest single reason why companies expand and grow in the Southwest. Many successful IDA Ireland client companies that came here started small. Then, on seeing the level of talent, knowhow and experience available in the area, they expanded their operations over time.The heritage of inward investment has left a legacy of strong senior talent, with valuable experience of building and scaling operations in the region and taking on global roles. International companies coming to Ireland for the first time often find it’s easier to identify senior leaders or critical early recruits who have experience of working within multinational structures.
The Southwest region is lucky to have excellent universities such as UCC and MTU that are educating 42,000 students, but in reality Cork is attracting talent from all over Ireland, the European Economic Area, and further afield. Companies based here have successfully struck the right balance between competing for skilled people, and cooperating to ensure the talent pool is as large as possible for everyone.
Spirit of collaboration awaits new arrivals
That collaborative spirit is evident in how companies take part in the site visits IDA Ireland organises when speaking with potential clients. When a company is looking at setting up for the first time, they often want to see proposed sites for themselves, and here’s where the support network comes into its own. As part of those visits, we arrange meetings with peer companies across the Southwest and those discussions are invaluable in swaying the decision and landing the investment.We regularly hear how the openness of fellow executives at multinationals and the positive engagement with local stakeholders goes a long way. These conversations between leaders help the newer arrivals to get a feel for the locality, learn how to tap into available talent, and understand how best to integrate into the local ecosystem.
It’s easy to overlook ‘soft’ supports such as these, but winning foreign direct investment is a team sport and the Southwest region would not have enjoyed the level of success it has seen without the involvement of all stakeholders. We often hear how this level of support is a differentiator. It’s another huge advantage that Ireland has; and it’s very evident in the Southwest.
It might seem counterintuitive, but the presence of so many major multinationals hasn’t necessarily caused the talent pool to shrink; in fact, the presence of many clients can actually make it easier to attract new talent to the Southwest, which is a key focus for many of the companies in IDA Ireland’s portfolio.
When people are relocating their families to come and work here, having others from the same country as them makes the region more attractive and adds to the richness and diversity of talent. One of the largest clients in Cork, and one of the largest employers in the State, has more than 100 languages spoken at its site in the Southwest which has operated for more than 40 years.
A broad industry base
Another long standing investor is Liebherr. It is one of IDA Ireland’s oldest clients, having originally come to Killarney, county Kerry, in 1958. This was the company’s first factory outside Germany which for many years manufactured the world’s largest tower cranes and shipped them all over the world from the nearby ports of Fenit and Cobh. Today it employs close to 800 people.
This investment will expand the pharmaceutical company’s capacity and capabilities for aseptic drug products, reinforce stable production for global supply, and accelerate the development and commercialisation of innovative antibody drugs and other new products. This new facility represents a €330 million investment which will create in excess of 100 highly skilled roles when complete. It will also complement the existing Astellas site in Killorglin, also in Kerry.In March 2024, Astellas announced the largest ever foreign direct investment in Tralee.
County Kerry also has RDI Hub, the innovation centre that was set up to drive business growth and technological advancement. It recently marked its fifth anniversary, having been set up as a not-for-profit public-private partnership between Fexco, Kerry County Council and Munster Technological University. Since 2020, the centre has seen more €250 million in capital flow through to be invested in its members to establish and grow their business, which includes projects looking to advance in fields like fintech, AI to construction and tourism.
Meanwhile Cork ranked second among European small cities in fDi Intelligence’s ‘European Cities and Regions of the Future 2025’ report. The city placed in the top two for Economic Potential and in the top three for Business Friendliness. In the first six months of 2024, US-based companies Results CX, IBM and ProofPoint all announced investments in Cork. According to fDi markets, American firms have cumulatively invested more than $2 billion into Cork since the start of this decade. On average, 11 US companies invest in Cork each year.
Quality of life in the Southwest
No description of the Southwest is complete without referring to the region’s spectacular scenery and outstanding natural beauty. Quite simply, it’s a great place to live and work. Cork and Kerry claim some of Ireland’s finest mountains, rivers and lakes, as well as hundreds of miles of breathtaking natural coastline, part of the Wild Atlantic Way. Cork offers a vibrant music and arts culture with concerts, sessions and gigs happening most nights and several exciting cultural festivals hosted each year. Kerry too has enviable quality of life and boasts an affordable cost of living.Add to that a stable political system, an ease of doing business, and it equals an ecosystem that’s geared to supporting multinationals in getting established and growing. Local authorities in Cork and Kerry are very cooperative and there’s easy access to support agencies like IDA Ireland, along with active networking organisations like the American Chamber of Commerce, Cork Chamber, STEM South West and the Tech Industry Alliance. New investors, or companies looking to expand an existing presence, will find a welcoming environment in the Southwest.