The impact of the arrival of President Trump to the White House and what is anticipated is a significant role out of Tariffs by the new administration against Ireland and Europe  will likely have a significant negative impact on Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland over 2025.

Indeed figures released today by the Irish Department of Enterprise show a lack of confidence in IDA back firms with just 1,064 new jobs last year .

The 2024 figure is a long way away from the average of 15,000 new jobs a year added by multinationals from 2014 through to 2022.

Employment in Foreign Direct Investment firms increase to just 0.3% since 2023 with 1064 jadditional obs added in areas such as chemicals ,business services and medical devices bringing the total employed in the FDI sector to 300,000 .

While the data show that in 2024 there was no overall losss of jobs the employment numbers in the FDI sector will be a challenge.

The IDA has announced plans to deliver 75,000 new jobs over the next 5 years according to its new strategy

The IDA hope to retaining the 1,800 companies it supporting Ireland this year against a backdrop of the new Trump strategy of bringing jobs back home to America .

Analysts have raised eyebrows at the IDA figures  which most predict are on the optimistic side and take little or no account of the impact AI  and digitisation will have on jobs  and job creation.

Indeed it would be useful if the IDA provided detail research on how it has set these targets in the current environment and what  plans they have in place in the event that they will fall short of its ambitous targets.