Ms Mary Buckley:

Looking at the current situation, we have 1,700 FDI-based companies here in Ireland. Of those, 300 are tech companies. What has happened in the past few weeks is obviously that, at a global level, companies have made big decisions to reduce their global workforce by a certain percentage. Then the implementation of that actually takes some time because the big figure is announced and then it takes the company some time to work through that and what it means. For many of our client companies, without a doubt they operate with respect. They absolutely are very focused on their people and talent is a key piece for them. It is very unusual to be in a situation whereby people are informed in this regard but it is the nature of global announcements. It is hugely unfortunate people hear about these announcements at a later stage but that is exactly how it is happening in recent times because of the fact they are global announcements.

I reinforce the empathy and support that companies are providing to their people. It is not a scenario in which people are not being looked after. They are being looked after. It is also safe to say that while it is a very tough time for people to receive this bad news, there are a lot of opportunities in the tech sector. We can see that many of the companies are working with the employees to help them source alternative employment and to upskill or reskill, working with the government infrastructure to support that. It is hugely important for companies to do this when they find themselves in a situation where they have to let their employees go.