Irish Elections: Pro-Tech Winners, Pro-Tech Policies?

The two main parties from the present three-party coalition, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, came two seats short of the majority. They are expected to find the extra votes from independents and form a new government. The coalition’s third party, the Greens, suffered a massive loss and retained a single seat. Anti-immigration candidates failed across the board.

Although tech policy was not a major electoral issue, it will be a priority for the new government. Delays on new data center construction, a creaking energy grid, a housing crunch, and regulatory over-reach jeopardize massive corporate tax receipts from US technology firms. The departure of the Greens should remove barriers to tackling some of these challenges. A larger unanswered question is whether Dublin can promote a pro-innovation agenda in Brussels.

On paper, it is the best of times for Ireland, in large part thanks to a tech boom. Unemployment is low. The new government will be boosted by record tax receipts, including €14bn in back taxes that the European Commission forced Apple to pay back. The outgoing Irish government opposed the bill, only for the European Court of Justice to overrule it. European headquarters for Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, and Apple are located in Ireland. It is a data center hub for the cloud hyper-scalers. Intel has an established major manufacturing site in Leixlip, near Dublin. New transatlantic subsea cables are planned.

Although Ireland should be well positioned to surf the artificial intelligence wave, it is stuck in a rut, most of its own making. Years of infrastructure under-investment combined with outdated and convoluted planning rules have created a severe housing shortage which swelled into a dominant feature of the election campaign. There is little point in recruiting staff when they cannot find anywhere to live near the office.

Energy connections are fraying. A moratorium on new data centers and strict requirements for renewable energy supply exacerbate the problems. Technology companies have raised concerns with the government.

Reform is required. The Green Party’s exit could help reduce the red tape around energy. The US is moving fast to power data centers with natural gas, to bridge the gap before renewables and nuclear come online. Ireland can do the same. The European Commission is now investigating collusion between firms constructing data centers. Ireland cannot afford to allow critical infrastructure to be scuppered by parochial, even personal, interests.

Funding for Irish regulators needs to be boosted. As home to ‘big tech’ HQs, Ireland’s technology regulators will continue to play an out-sized role in policing the global giants. The Irish Data Protection Commissioner has issued huge fines against several tech firms for breaches of EU laws, though so far collected only a sliver of the money. The new media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, will be responsible for enforcing the Digital Services Act, a content regulation law impacting the big online platforms. Although Irish regulators are independent, the government sets funding levels, and it needs to be generous so that a lack of resources do not hold up decisions. 

What to do with all that Apple tax money was another campaign issue. Priorities varied among the main parties, with fixing the housing shortage, healthcare, and renewable energy supports all in the mix. Expect horse-trading as the government is formed. Some of the Green Party’s policies will carry forward as Ireland has legal obligations to hit climate targets. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael spendthrift tendencies will be loosened. Both parties will dial down any talk of a ‘green agenda’ while also seeking to build long overdue wind farms. Ireland’s energy infrastructure requires urgent upgrade.

A broad consensus on reforming planning rules would represent a landmark achievement. It would please tech firms. Ireland’s indigenous tech scene is small but growing. It expects additional cash support as the country attempts to diversify its economy and wean off the reliance foreign firms. Investment targeting rural areas is certain.

A big question mark concerns overall EU policy. After imposing a tsunami of tech regulations over the past five years, the new watchword is competitiveness. Ireland will agree and its EU Commissioner Michael McGrath holds a key portfolio, responsible for consumer affairs. His staff is pushing for a major new Digital Fairness Act to combat online ills such as dark parents and influencers. But the EU already has regulations covering most of these issues, and McGrath insists that he will not move forward unless the overlaps are eliminated.

Ireland takes over the six-month European Union presidency in July 2026, as deal-making on the next seven-year EU budget gets underway. This gives the country an opportunity to assume a strong leadership role within Europe on tech. A signal of intent would be to increase the country’s headcount in Brussels.

As Donald Trump takes power in Washington, the forecast for the transatlantic alliance is for stormy weather. A waiting game is not an option for Ireland. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns – corporate taxes could dry up and the EU could fail in its competitiveness drive and return to its default position in favor of regulation. The new Irish government must act fast to boost Ireland’s, and Europe’s, digital competitiveness.

Ronan Murphy is Director of the Digital Innovation Initiative at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

Bandwidth is CEPA’s online journal dedicated to advancing transatlantic cooperation on tech policy. All opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis.