AT A CONVENTION Centre event a couple of years ago to mark 40 years of diplomatic ties between Ireland and China, then-Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan noted that relations between Dublin and Beijing were “growing stronger with each passing year”.
But as a small, open economy, Ireland’s trading relationships are heavily influenced by our position within the European Union. The downsides of this phenomenon have been made abundantly clear in recent weeks in the controversy over cuckoo funds and their power within the market. At the end of the day, Ireland is still a more popular destination for individual European and American investors, from his experience. “Now, that’s not to say that Chinese investors haven’t invested via other people’s funds.”
There’s certainly been some of that, he says, but Chinese interest in Irish property is still a new phenomenon. Applicants can also choose to invest at least €1 million in Central Bank-regulated investment funds, at least €2 million in publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trusts or make philanthropic endowments to charitable, cultural or sports organisations of no less than €500,000.
Since then there have been some high profile jobs announcements by companies like TikTok and Huawei. So it’s possible that the total number of Irish jobs directly supported by Chinese investment has grown to around 2,000 or above. Across areas like financial services, technology and pharmaceuticals, Sharpe says the IDA has secured a number of “really strategic investments”.The pharma company is building a major production facility in Dundalk, which represents “the largest greenfield life sciences investment by a Chinese company into Europe to date,” according to the IDA.
“I can only tell you this: the companies that we’re dealing with, they’re highly sophisticated; they’re very commercially driven; they’re good to deal with,” she says. Last year, Ireland exported over €10.5 billion worth of goods to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, according to CSO figures.
Nice to know we're financially supporting the genocide of Uyghur peoples.
Too deep