Whe strolls through the docklands on the River Liffey, hearing a large mixture of languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Polish and Romanian – the center of tech companies in the Irish capital has attracted people from all over Europe and half the world. Tech giants like Google, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft and Twitter, lured in part by Ireland’s low taxes, have moved into steel and glass office towers here. Google has erected a second building near the European headquarters.
Now fear is also rampant in the “Silicon Docks”. Thousands of employees at the digital giants in Dublin could lose their jobs because of the looming tech recession. Meta and Twitter have already announced the first layoffs. “But the truth is that the sector was previously overexpanded, the corporations hired an enormous number of new employees in the two Corona years, so to speak in reserve,” says Dan O’Brien, chief economist at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin . Overall, he is optimistic that Ireland’s economy is resilient.
