The measures announced in Budget 2016 will be beneficial to Irish taxpayers and the economy overall, enhancing take-home pay and giving people more spending power to boost the recovery.

From an FDI perspective, the reductions on the USC rates will enhance Ireland’s competitiveness in the international battle to retain and attract talent. Ireland has a great track record in attracting FDI, particularly from the key US economy. The stock of investment by US companies in Ireland now stands at over $310bn.

Currently in Ireland there are over 700 US companies who employ 140,000 people directly and this number is almost matched 1 to 1 in terms of jobs created by companies servicing the needs of US multinationals.

One of the factors in Ireland’s success has been the availability of world-class talent, but competitiveness was eroded during the recession by high levels of personal taxation.

It’s a positive move to see Government start to reverse this trend.

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