The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in Ireland was the third biggest in the EU in 2019, according to a new report from the Central Statistics Office.
The output of the sector here was €128 billion in 2019, with 91% of that exported.
This compares to output of €310 billion in Germany, €223 billion in France and is just ahead of Italy’s €126 billion.
91,000 people were employed in the sector here, which ranges from broadband companies to software providers.
50,000 people were employed by foreign owned multinationals while domestic firms in the sector employed 41,000 people.
The sector paid out €8.5 billion in wages and €3.9 billion in tax.
ICT workers have the highest average earnings in the country.
Multinationals paid wages of €6.4 billion, while domestic firms had a wage bill of €2.1 billion.
The CSO says Ireland has become a global hub for the ICT industry with the sector here growing twelve-fold in real terms since 1995.
63% of its workforce has a third level qualification.
However, the industry employs a low percentage of female workers.
Overall, only 32% of ICT workers are female.
Just 5% of telecommunications engineers are female.
The report finds that while the majority of workers who move within the industry tend to move from foreign to foreign firm and from domestic to domestic firm, ‘a significant minority’ of 22% moved went between foreign and domestic firms.
This, the CSO says, is evidence of a spillover of knowledge and expertise between multinationals and domestic companies.
