The President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland has said the biggest concern of multinational companies in Ireland is how to attract and retain talented individuals from abroad to live and work here and how to develop and retain talent within the country.
Addressing the chamber's annual 4 July lunch, Mark Gantly said increasingly Ireland is being scored on quality of life factors, and measured up against other competing international destinations.
He said the consensus of member companies is that residential accommodation and digital and physical infrastructure must not slip from the agenda.
"In particular we must resolve uncertainties and bottlenecks in our planning system," Mr Gantly said.
He said the effect of high personal taxation rates is becoming critical when sites are benchmarked against other locations for future investment.
Mr Gantly added that the chamber supports Project Ireland 2040 as critical to competitiveness, but the focus now must be on the speed of execution.
"Our future economic well-being and success depends on our ability to get things done and get them done quickly," he said.
He also backed increased financial support for agencies including Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland.
"Our chamber will always be steadfast in our support for Ireland's hard won reputation as a business friendly environment. That includes transparency and certainty of tax breaks for the long-term."
He added that the chamber also welcomes Ireland's support for research and development, in paticular the R&D tax credit, which has had a huge impact, and the chamber has strongly urged that it be maintained.
Mr Gantly said it is currently an important time to think ahead and plan for the future.
In relation to Brexit, he said Ireland must use its voice now more than ever in its transatlantic relationship.
Also addressing the gathering, the Minister for Finance said he is absolutely clear where Ireland will stand now and in the future, when it comes to the debate on international tax changes.
Paschal Donohoe said he had played his role in the debate on changes to digital taxation to ensure this is a debate that is fair to Ireland as well as the United States and also reflects really important principles about how global taxation should develop and be levied.
He added that work will continue inside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with key trading partners to chart a path forward for large and small economies.
Mr Donohoe said even as he looks at some of the uncertainties that 2020 could bring, he is committed to investing a further €700m in public capital investment in Ireland.
The minister also pointed to changes made to strategic infrastructure legislation to help improve the delivery of large projects.
On Brexit, Mr Donohoe said the next area of engagement in the transatlantic relationship will be what kind of role Ireland plays as a bridge to the European Union.
US companies employ 155,000 people in Ireland directly and another 100,000 indirectly, and the country accounts for 12% of all US multinational investment.
A further 100,000 people are employed in the US by Irish companies.
