Yahoo Finance Google backs out of new Dublin office as Ireland tips into recession
Google has abandoned plans for a major new office in Dublin as the city struggles with a sharp economic recession and rising fears of a coronavirus second wave.
A spokeswoman for the company confirmed on Monday that it has pulled out of talks to rent out a plush new 240m euro (£216m) development in the Irish capital's "Silicon Docks".
The seven-storey building, on the site of an old postal sorting office, would have housed around 2,000 employees across 202,000 sq ft of space, a short walk from Google's main campus and just across the street from Facebook's European headquarters.
Though Google did not give a reason, the deal's collapse is likely to be taken as an ill omen for Dublin's economy, which has been substantially fueled by the influx of tech companies since the crash of 2008.
The same day, Ireland officially slipped into recession after its economy contracted by 6.1pc – the biggest quarterly GDP drop on record.
A spokeswoman for Google said: “After much deliberation, Google has decided not to proceed with leasing the Sorting Office. We are committed to Ireland and continue to invest in our Irish operations."
The deal's end was first reported by the real estate industry news site React News.
Google and its parent company Alphabet have a giant presence in Dublin, which has become the European headquarters of many American tech giants due to Ireland's rock-bottom corporate tax rate of 12.5pc.
Many have clustered around the old Grand Canal Docks, which have been transformed over the past three decades from a contaminated wasteland into a thriving tech hub hosting thousands of employees. Last year, tech firms reportedly accounting for half of all new office transactions.
Ireland has seen a recent resurgence of Covid-19 over the past month, with about half of the new cases in Dublin, although the absolute number of infections remains small.
On Monday, Dublin's chief medical officer said the next seven days will be "vital" if the city is to to escape new lockdown measures.
