Ireland Looking to Court U.S. Tech Startups That Need a European HQ

IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said the group, which heads the economic development of the country, is at SXSW meeting current and prospective companies which might consider making the island its European base. Shanahan said, 'It's easy to start a business in Ireland, to scale a business in Ireland and to operate a business in Ireland.' Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Dropbox, Airbnb, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, banks and pharmaceutical firms have their European headquarters in Ireland. Shanahan said apart from a liberal tax regime, a young, educated workforce that speaks English are just some of the reasons companies choose to setup offices in Ireland. TheStreet's Ruben Ramirez has details from Austin, Texas.