{"id":495255,"date":"2026-05-21T04:57:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/495255\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T04:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:57:12","slug":"what-lies-ahead-for-meta-in-ireland-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/495255\/","title":{"rendered":"What lies ahead for Meta in Ireland? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Ireland\u2019s technology sector, the hits just seem to keep coming. Hot on the heels of the news that Oracle<\/a> was cutting 15 per cent<\/a> of its Irish workforce came the confirmation that Meta <\/a>would reduce its staff numbers here too. <\/p>\n

While the Oracle announcement was bad enough \u2013 150 jobs at risk \u2013 Meta\u2019s was worse. The Instagram<\/a> owner has not officially confirmed the number of jobs that will go \u2013 it has processes and timelines set down in Irish law that it must follow \u2013 but sources say the figure could be as high as 350. That is almost 20 per cent of its Irish workforce, a significant chop for the company\u2019s international headquarters. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Meta to lay off 350 staff from its Irish officesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The job cuts themselves were not a surprise; some sort of reduction had been expected since Meta announced in April that it was looking to shed up to 8,000 from its global staff levels. That would mean a 10 per cent reduction globally, which translates in raw numbers to 180 here. <\/p>\n

However, these things are seldom that simple. With workers organised into teams that span multiple time zones, the exact number of cuts in each region is hard to predict. <\/p>\n

But there are more concerning trends to examine. Meta\u2019s Irish operation has seen huge reductions since Covid-era hiring took its total to about 3,000. As the boom subsided and normality caught up with the tech sector, Meta found itself with a dilemma: a bloated organisation that was not fit for the new economic reality. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Cliff Taylor: Why this round of tech job cuts is differentOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

That sparked the \u201cyear of efficiency\u201d, which may as well have been a code name for \u201credundancies\u201d. Starting in 2022, the company began to announce thousands of job cuts worldwide. In Ireland, that meant staff numbers were whittled down in the past couple of years from about 3,000 to 1,800 prior to the latest announcement.<\/p>\n

The metaverse, which Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> was so sure was the next big thing in the online world he was willing to commit billions to it, failed to catch on. Legless avatars and reports of harassment probably didn\u2019t do it any favours, but it seems as if the idea of living in a virtual world just wasn\u2019t that appealing. <\/p>\n

So now attention has turned to artificial intelligence<\/a>. But that has been a double-edged sword. While it was initially billed as a way to make staff more productive, in some cases it has been more of a hindrance to the employees. In the US, Meta recently installed tracking software on employees\u2019 computers that captures keystrokes, clicks and mouse movements to train its AI models that will one day power AI agents. No matter what way you try to look at it, that sounds suspiciously like staff being forced to train their replacements. <\/p>\n

\"\"Could we be heading toward a world recession if Trump can\u2019t broker a deal with Iran?<\/p>\n

With the massive amount of money being ploughed into the technology, there had to be a clawback somewhere else. And with companies so sure of AI\u2019s new efficiencies, the inevitable result is job losses. Even if it isn\u2019t to blame, it provides handy cover for businesses that need to trim costs without looking too much like the bad guy. <\/p>\n

The question we should be asking is what happens now? What does the future hold for Meta\u2019s Irish business? <\/p>\n

If the full force of these new cuts are implemented, that will bring Meta\u2019s Irish-based employee numbers to under 1,500 \u2013 about half of what they were before the axe began to fall. The company\u2019s decision to move from the aptly named Misery Hill in Grand Canal Dock to its campus in Ballsbridge, which it officially opened in 2023, seems a little premature. <\/p>\n

No one is suggesting that Meta is set to pack up and leave, but it does raise questions about the long-term strategy for Meta here and its wider role in Europe. The company has been warning for some time now that new European Union<\/a> regulations intended to rein in Big Tech\u2019s influence and put manners on social media platforms would limit the businesses in the region. We have heard doom and gloom prophecies of Europe becoming the \u201cmuseum of the world\u201d if authorities tried to use the regulations to check the powers of the billionaires\u2019 platforms. While they may insist that they really do want regulation, the overwhelming feeling is \u201cnot yet, and not like that\u201d. <\/p>\n

In this AI-powered utopia businesses would be allowed to develop their AI tools without restriction. As if that has always worked out so well in the past. <\/p>\n

None of this is any comfort or help to the Meta staff who are losing their jobs, and the wider tech population that seems to be contracting. Hard questions need to be asked of the multinationals by those in power. Preferably before AI is the only one around to provide the answers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Ireland\u2019s technology sector, the hits just seem to keep coming. Hot on the heels of the news…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[289,44210,79,18,877,186557,19,876,17,1721,1722,12602,133516],"class_list":["post-495255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-ballsbridge","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-facebook","tag-grand-canal-dock","tag-ie","tag-instagram","tag-ireland","tag-mark-zuckerberg","tag-meta","tag-oracle","tag-tech-lay-offs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116610796465239599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}