Factors impacting Ireland’s ability to attract the very best talent

Ireland is known for being pro-business and having a skilled workforce. But local and global factors are shrinking the talent pool of one of the world’s most open economies. The EU more generally is still struggling to establish itself as the most sought-after employment hub. Candidates are prioritising personal factors over compensation packages when appraising roles or offers. So, what can Ireland do to enhance its appeal and ensure people want to work here?

Where is the talent flowing in 2023/24?

If I had written this blog a few years ago, I would have kicked off my discussion around the challenge that Irish employers in sectors such as financial services face because they are not just competing locally but also with international markets (particularly with cities like London, New York, and Singapore), global financial hubs that typically offer higher remuneration and larger-scale opportunities, which can be more attractive to top talent.

This is still true but is compounded by another trend. In the past, we would have recruited for some roles overseas as well as within Ireland. However, factors such as the housing situation in Ireland mean that arranging for someone to relocate here is no longer a given for employers. We are seeing a vicious cycle where people are leaving Ireland to live overseas (and therefore exiting the marketplace) but it’s too much of a challenge to bring people from abroad into Ireland to take up their roles. The property market really does impact our ability to recruit.

What connects infrastructure and recruitment in Ireland?

Housing doesn’t just need to be built; it needs to be built in the right places. Listening to the David McWilliams podcast recently, I was reminded that a huge area of east Dublin is dedicated to port infrastructure that doesn’t benefit activity in the rest of the city. Every day, the influx of vehicles and lorries battle their way out of a congested Dublin in order to reach their actual destinations. But surely this strategic area of our capital would serve us better as a mixed-use neighbourhood? As David mentions, the location of Dublin Port is crazy and building a world-class port in Drogheda would make a lot more sense.

Ireland has the second highest ‘property price to income’ ratio in Europe, behind only Iceland. We all know that housing is a problem, but it’s not just in this area that Ireland falls short. Areas of infrastructure including high-speed internet, healthcare, utilities, and transport leave a lot to be desired here. All of this makes Ireland less attractive for an overseas worker. The post-pandemic increase in mobility means plenty of people have moved abroad to benefit from a better quality of life, but they aren’t being replaced by equally skilled workers from overseas.

Anyone who travels for work or commutes knows that we don’t have a lot of options if we want to get out of our cars and use public transport. Our rail system used to be extensive, with 5,600 km of lines criss-crossing the island at its height in the 1920s. After waves of closures during the 1950s and 1960s, we now have less than half that coverage. While there appears to be the political will to bring back some of that infrastructure, it’s going to take many years – probably decades – to come onstream. In the meantime, our public transport system just isn’t that flexible or comprehensive.

Ireland still has an internal mobility problem

Ireland also has an internal mobility problem. Why is this an issue? Employers can put together fantastic compensation packages, but many of the reasons a role is attractive to someone will be out of the company’s control. For example, we regularly see people turning down job offers because organising accommodation is going to be too difficult for them. We have a situation at the moment where recruiting people from outside Dublin is almost as difficult as recruiting them from overseas. Unless candidates have connections in Dublin who can make finding accommodation achievable (such as staying with a relative), it’s unattainable for them. Lots of Dublin-based companies we work with can only hire graduates with ties to Dublin. The rest of the pool is unavailable to them.

Given the size of the population, the fact that so many people are concentrated in the Dublin area is a problem. 1.2 million people out of a 5.1 million population are based in the capital and its suburbs. The next biggest urban area, Cork, represents just 222,000 inhabitants. Financial services and professional services firms have no real choice when it comes to location – to function normally they must base themselves in one of the established hubs – Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Galway.

We need a polycentric vision for Ireland

What are we getting wrong that other countries are getting right? We have plenty of space across the country and concentrating all our attention on a few main cities nonsensical. Take the Netherlands as a comparison. Ireland has 70% more land surface, yet over 17 million people live in the Netherlands compared to our 5.1 million. While relatively urbanised, the population is more evenly distributed, and no single city dominates to the extent that Dublin does in Ireland. Despite the high population density, Dutch people currently enjoy the highest quality of life in Europe, while we trail behind at position 20 (a position we’ve been sliding to since the middle of the last decade).

Ireland has the potential to be bigger and better, but only if we’re prepared to take a critical look at ourselves and stop being afraid of change. We need to reject our old Dublin-centric thinking and embrace new patterns of work and play. Instead of shuffling our spare cash into a “rainy day” fund, it should be put to work for our future success. We need an audacious plan for developing a more polycentric urban infrastructure. Low/no cost and frequent public transport will help with mobility of the workforce, allowing new, vibrant business centres to grow around the country, with large enough local communities to supply the talent industry needs to thrive.

Creating an attractive employment marketplace is a story of two sides. If we want to support business with a mobile and engaged talent pool, we need both attractive places to live AND rewarding jobs. Industry is doing its part, it’s up to our decision makers to do theirs.