Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to take this question, if that is okay. I reassure the Deputy that we are following what is happening at the moment very closely. We are speaking to many tech companies at a senior level to understand what is likely to unfold in the coming months. It is important to say that the tech sector is extremely strong in Ireland right now. Many of the global decisions that have been taken are reversing part of the growth of last year, when many tech companies were employing very large numbers of people over a very short space of time. Google, for example, took on an extra 30,000 people last year and has made a decision to reduce its workforce by 12,000 this year. We do not know how that will impact Ireland yet. This should not be seen as a tech crisis. This should be seen as a reversal of part of the growth from last year. However, I take the point the Deputy is making. It is our job as a Department to make sure we understand the-----

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