In an interview with POLITICO, Irish Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf appeared quite optimistic at the country's prospects of remaining host to a large number of tech companies.

What's attracting multinationals to Ireland is more than just its corporate tax rates, set at 12.5%, making them the lowest in Europe. It's 'the confidence [...] the quality of the labour force, the quality of government' which convinces companies to stay in Ireland, Makhlouf said.

This doesn't mean that Ireland will not be badly hit by the new global corporate tax rules, agreed to by 132 countries as part of negotiations at the OECD. 'It really depends on exactly what is finally agreed'. The implementation plan is set to be finalised by October.

Among EU member states, Ireland (together with Estonia and Hungary, plus Cyprus who was not part of the OECD negotiations to start with) is resisting the new tax agreement, which aims at setting the global tax rate at 15%.