Multinationals play an important role in the economies of many developed and developing countries. Increasingly, multinationals create a physical presence in several countries around the world in order to maximise their global earnings.
This chapter presents statistics on the activities of the affiliates of Irish multinationals abroad and the contribution made by the affiliates of foreign multinationals in Ireland. Please note that a special article called “Compiling foreign affiliates statistics (FATS)” was published in “Business in Ireland 2010[1]” which goes into more detail on the methodology behind these statistics.
See Tables 8.1 and 8.2 at the end of this section for more detail on the data in the graphs.
In 2012, Irish multinationals employed almost 246,000 persons in foreign affiliates. These affiliates generated turnover of €75.9 billion. See Figure 8.1.
By contrast, foreign multinationals employed nearly 256,600 persons in affiliates in Ireland[1]. These affiliates generated turnover of over €183.7 billion. See Figure 8.1.
[1] The numbers of persons engaged for foreign multinationals in Ireland are derived from the Structural Business Surveys while the persons engaged in the rest of this publication are taken from CSO Business Demography statistics i.e. administrative sources. The two sources will produce marginally different results.
Figure 8.1 Irish MNEs abroad and foreign MNEs in Ireland, 2012
Irish multinationals abroad
In terms of employment, Distribution was the dominant sector for Irish affiliates abroad with 43.3% of total persons engaged. This was followed by Manufacturing with 34.3% and Services with 21.1%. Employment in Other Industrial and Construction affiliates only accounted for 1.4% of the total employment. See Figure 8.2.
| Persons engaged | |
| Distribution (G) | 43.3 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 34.3 |
| Services (inc. Finance) | 21.1 |
| Other industrial (B,D,E) | 1 |
| Construction (F) | 0.4 |
In terms of turnover, Distribution was the most important sector for Irish affiliates abroad accounting for 38.9%. This was followed by Services with 30.8% of total turnover and Manufacturing 28.1%. See Figure 8.3.
| Turnover | |
| Distribution (G) | 38.9 |
| Services (incl. Finance) | 30.8 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 28.1 |
| Other Industrial (B,D,E) | 1.5 |
| Construction (F) | 0.7 |
In Irish affiliates abroad, the Construction sector recorded the highest turnover per person engaged at almost €512,100. The least productive sector was Manufacturing which recorded a figure of just under €252,900. The average turnover across all sectors was over €308,500. See Figure 8.4.
| Turnover per person engaged | |
| Construction | 512.1 |
| Other Industrial | 483.1 |
| Services (incl. Finance) | 451.2 |
| Distribution | 277.2 |
| Manufacturing | 252.9 |
| All sectors | 308.5 |
It is possible to analyse Irish-owned foreign affiliates by location. As in previous years, the UK was the most important location for Irish affiliates in 2012 with employment of almost 75,000 and turnover of €30.3 billion. This was followed by the US with employment of over 61,500 and turnover of €17.8 billion. The UK and the US combined accounted for 55.5% of total employment and 63.4% of total turnover in Irish affiliates abroad. Other locations for Irish affiliates with high employment and turnover were Germany, Netherlands and France. See Figures 8.5 and 8.6.
| Persons engaged | |
| United Kingdom | 74985 |
| United States | 61522 |
| Germany | 15246 |
| Netherlands | 13601 |
| France | 10883 |
| Poland | 6527 |
| Belgium | 4445 |
| Spain | 3398 |
| Canada | 3111 |
| Italy | 2853 |
| Other countries | 49359 |
| Turnover | |
| United Kingdom | 30.3 |
| United States | 17.8 |
| Netherlands | 3.8 |
| Germany | 3.6 |
| France | 2.9 |
| Spain | 1.1 |
| Austria | 1.1 |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Poland | 0.9 |
| Australia | 0.7 |
| Other countries | 12.6 |
Employment outside the EU by EU Multinationals
The number of persons employed in Irish-owned affiliates outside the EU was almost 102,100 in 2011 (compared to almost 144,200 in foreign affiliates within the EU). In order to put this figure into context, it represents 0.8% of the 13.5 million persons engaged in European-owned affiliates outside the EU. The largest contributors to this employment were British-owned affiliates at 23.5%, French-owned affiliates at 22.7% and German-owned affiliates at 19.1%. Note that 2011 data are used for these European comparisons as 2012 data are not yet available from Eurostat. See Figure 8.7.
In terms of the sectoral breakdown of employment in European-owned affiliates outside the EU, 51.8% of employment was in Services in 2011. By contrast, 70.7% of employment in Irish-owned affiliates outside the EU was in Services. See Figure 8.8.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Employment outside the EU |
|---|---|
| Irish | 0.8 |
| Dutch | 5.8 |
| Italian | 7.1 |
| Other | 20.9 |
| German | 19.1 |
| French | 22.7 |
| British | 23.5 |
| Nationality | |
| Irish | 70.7 |
| British | 57.2 |
| French | 56.1 |
| German | 41.3 |
| Italian | 39 |
| 0 | |
| EU27 average | 51.8 |
Foreign multinationals in Ireland[1]
It is estimated from the Structural Business Surveys that 3,336 or 2.2% of the 154,987 enterprises in the business economy in Ireland were foreign-owned in 2012.
Despite the small number of foreign-owned enterprises, they were very significant in terms of employment, turnover and GVA.
There were only small changes between 2011 and 2012 in the percentage contribution of foreign-owned enterprises to the key variables such as employment, turnover and GVA. See Figure 8.9.
[1] In this section, the data for the number of enterprises and persons engaged are derived from the Structural Business Surveys while in the rest of this publication these variables are taken from CSO Business Demography statistics i.e. administrative sources. The two sources will produce marginally different results.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
| Number of enterpises | 2.13928142250326 | 2.15243859162381 |
| Persons engaged | 21.7525317329937 | 22.5217285201256 |
| Turnover | 55.9355481412375 | 56.660519791294 |
| GVA | 57.4144932979647 | 58.4468962033455 |
Manufacturing, in particular, was dominated by foreign-owned enterprises in 2012 with 406 enterprises (10.2%) accounting for 79,348 (49.9%) persons engaged and almost €29 billion (85.6%) in GVA. See Figure 8.10.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
| Number of enterpises | 9.43312666076173 | 10.1550775387694 |
| Persons engaged | 47.9478769083969 | 49.9028332442376 |
| Turnover | 78.293952743292 | 79.471862656916 |
| GVA | 83.4464910945349 | 85.5557850629998 |
Construction is not a sector that is overly characterised by foreign-owned enterprises. It was estimated that 0.3% of enterprises in Construction were foreign-owned in 2012, which accounted for 2.0% of persons engaged and 3.8% of GVA.
In Distribution, almost 1,250 (3.4%) foreign-owned enterprises accounted for 79,700 (24.4%) persons engaged and almost €7.5 billion (47.5%) GVA.
In Services, over 1,600 (1.9%) foreign-owned enterprises accounted for over 96,000 (16.6%) persons engaged and almost €14.3 billion (42.6%) GVA. See Figures 8.11 and 8.12.
| 2011 | 2012 | |
| Number of enterpises | 3.23008028829593 | 3.36357481381178 |
| Persons engaged | 22.6566362170876 | 24.4474028085373 |
| Turnover | 37.6331763220512 | 38.3413449960022 |
| GVA | 45.5103252622551 | 47.4882658886211 |
| 2011 | 2012 | |
| Number of enterpises | 1.91374094139168 | 1.89082287766575 |
| Persons engaged | 16.5137485377644 | 16.6212529342926 |
| Turnover | 56.6082700621387 | 57.0411645759564 |
| GVA | 42.9403245352171 | 42.555284019789 |
Nationality of foreign multinationals in Ireland
Of the €81.3 billion in turnover accounted for by foreign-owned enterprises in Manufacturing, almost €70 billion or 86.1 % was generated from enterprises that were owned by multinationals outside the EU. The equivalent values for Distribution and Services were 55.9% and 74.4% respectively.
Of the €29 billion in GVA accounted for by foreign-owned enterprises in Manufacturing, €25.8 billion or 89.1% was generated from enterprises that were owned by entities outside the EU. The corresponding figures for Distribution and Services were 50.8% and 65.3% respectively. See Table 8.2.
Sectoral breakdown of Irish-owned enterprises versus foreign-owned enterprises
Irish-owned enterprises (operating in Ireland) were more active in the sectors of Distribution and Services sectors compared to foreign-owned enterprises. Of the €140.5 billion in total turnover generated by Irish-owned enterprises, almost 79% was generated in the Distribution and Services sectors, while the equivalent figure for foreign-owned enterprises was 55.6%. See Table 8.2.
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