What you need to know about the Irish tech sector

The tech sector in Ireland is booming, according to the latest data released by the Irish IT industry Association (IIAA).

The figures released today by the IIAA show the number of jobs in the IT sector in the country has more than doubled since 2014.

The IIAa said the growth in the number and size of jobs is due to the success of companies such as Cisco and Microsoft, as well as other tech giants such as Apple and IBM.

It said the number, and size, of jobs have increased by an average of 16.5pc each year since 2014, compared to an average growth of 12.4pc for the entire sector.

The latest figures showed the sector has added 2,943 new jobs since January 2017, up by more than 11pc in just the last three years.

“The number of employees in the sector grew by an annual average of 15.4 per cent between 2014 and 2017.

In the same period, the number fell by almost 10pc in real terms,” the IAA said.

The IT industry has seen a major rise in the proportion of jobs being in the tech sector.

It accounted for 13pc of total employment growth between 2014-15 and 2017-18, with the majority of the growth coming from IT and information technology (IT/ITE) roles.

The sector accounts for more than one-third of the Irish economy, accounting for over €7.2bn in GDP in 2018.

The growth in employment has coincided with a strong growth in digital companies and their IT products, with Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems, and Microsoft Research all reporting increases in their share of the digital economy in recent years.

Apple, IBM and Cisco were the top four companies in the latest figures.

Apple and Microsoft each grew their share in the digital industry by more 20pc over the past year, while IBM’s share has increased by nearly 10pc, with Microsoft growing by 10.3pc.

“In 2017, more than half of all digital jobs were in the technology sector, up from 41pc in 2015.

We are seeing a strong digital transformation taking place across Ireland and we look forward to continuing to work with our customers to enable the IT economy to thrive and flourish in the future,” Mr Hynes said.

He said the sector will continue to be a key driver of growth for the Irish technology industry and the Irish public.

“Ireland has been a pioneer in the globalisation of the internet, and now it is time for us to take our place alongside the rest of the world,” he said.

“Our companies will continue their work to advance our technology and create jobs, which we will be able to do with our digital transformation and skills.