Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2018
180. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of information and communication technology workers that have been attracted to work here under the techlife portal scheme from abroad in each year since established. [5239/18]
View answerTech/Life Ireland is a government funded national initiative to brand Ireland as a top destination to pursue a career in technology. Launched in June 2016, the initiative is being delivered in partnership with Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the tech industry. Tech/Life Ireland is a focused international marketing initiative with a dedicated website, www.techlifeireland.com, to attract talented and experienced tech experts to Ireland and to promote top tech career opportunities here. The initiative uses digital and social media to showcase the unrivalled lifestyle, tech environment and job opportunities available in Ireland. Initial target markets include countries in Central and Southern Europe. These have been identified based on detailed analysis of talent movement, local search activity and consultation with recruitment professionals from industry.
Over the 18 months of its operation, the website has had over 300,000 unique visitors and almost 33,000 job searches. 42% of total site traffic for 2017 was from organic sources, meaning that it did not result from paid advertisements, and the proportion of organic traffic has been rising steadily since the project began. 20% of traffic is from returning visitors, people coming back to search for jobs or find out more information about Ireland. On 10th February, Tech/Life Ireland is running an event in London, bringing together tech companies from Ireland with skilled ICT professionals from the UK and elsewhere.
As a brand-building exercise, the project continues to perform strongly. Estimating the exact number of ICT professionals who have moved to Ireland specifically because of Tech/Life Ireland, who would not have come here otherwise, is not possible to determine at this time. Such decisions are made based on many factors, and Tech/Life Ireland is just one of those. The portal, and the targeted search and social media work that goes on behind the scenes, continues to raise awareness of the top tech career opportunities available in Ireland, and to build Ireland’s brand as a recognised, exciting and attractive destination for ICT professionals.
