在愛爾蘭的幾個大城市中，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)體現(xiàn)出經(jīng)濟志向的跡象。在愛爾蘭首都，飽經(jīng)風霜的圣三一大學正在打造1592年成立以來第一個遠離其校園的區(qū)域——這個投資10億歐元、占地5.5英畝（約2.23萬平方米）的“創(chuàng)新區(qū)”容納了400家初創(chuàng)公司，旨在將圣三一大學變成歐洲的麻省理工學院或斯坦福大學。1980年就在愛爾蘭最南端城市科克設廠的蘋果公司去年將員工人數(shù)從5000人提升至6000人。愛爾蘭經(jīng)紀服務機構(gòu)EY-DKM Economic Advisory Services估算，愛爾蘭第三大城市利默里克在過去10年中共提交了20億歐元的規(guī)劃項目。愛爾蘭西海岸城市高威正在開發(fā)占地兩英畝（約8092平方米）的臨水建筑綜合體，后者投資1億歐元，建筑面積37萬平方英尺（約3.44萬平方米），旨在應對愛爾蘭源源不斷的寫字樓需求。突然之間，愛爾蘭成了眾多工程吊車的聚集地，當?shù)厝嗽J為這些龐然大物只會出現(xiàn)在幻想之中。

世界上一些最大銀行的高管注意到了這一點。在英國脫歐最終期限到來前，美銀美林和巴克萊都把歐盟總部從倫敦搬到了都柏林，以盡量減輕由此受到的沖擊；僅巴克萊一家就把自己管理的大約2150億美元資產(chǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到了都柏林（兩家銀行均拒絕就此發(fā)表評論）。它們的競爭對手，花旗集團、摩根士丹利、摩根大通和高盛集團盡管會在倫敦保留辦事機構(gòu)，但也都承諾，面對英國的不確定性，它們會擴大在都柏林的業(yè)務規(guī)模。

幾家在愛爾蘭有業(yè)務的跨國科技公司也披露了增加投資的計劃，只是有公司表示這和英國脫歐幾乎無關(guān)。舉例來說，F(xiàn)acebook在愛爾蘭的4處分支機構(gòu)都進行了擴充，現(xiàn)已成為該公司在美國以外的最大業(yè)務，而且Facebook還計劃今年再聘用1000人，使愛爾蘭員工總數(shù)超過4000人。谷歌最近在愛爾蘭招聘了1000人，還給云計算團隊專門找了一處辦公場所。兩家大型科技企業(yè)都參與了愛爾蘭歷史上一些規(guī)模最大的房地產(chǎn)交易；應當注意的是，兩家公司也都承諾在倫敦的國王十字地區(qū)進行可觀的擴張（Facebook和谷歌均拒絕派高管評論此事）。1985年就開始在愛爾蘭開展業(yè)務的微軟完成最近的招聘活動后將招收2200人，其中大多數(shù)將進入Leopardstown的微軟園區(qū)，距都柏林市中心約有7英里（約11.27公里）。

去年，愛爾蘭的跨國公司員工人數(shù)達到23萬人，創(chuàng)歷史新高，和480萬的全國人口相比已經(jīng)占了很大一部分。愛爾蘭外國投資管理機構(gòu)——工業(yè)發(fā)展局的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，因英國脫歐的直接影響而從倫敦轉(zhuǎn)移到都柏林的就業(yè)機會將超過4500個。EY-DKM Economic Advisory Services則估算，隨著這些崗位的轉(zhuǎn)移，將有1萬億美元資產(chǎn)“逃離”英國。

It’s not hard to find evidence of economic ambition in Ireland’s largest cities. In the Irish capital, the storied Trinity College is building the first unadjoined part of its campus since its founding in 1592: a billion-euro, 5.5-acre, 400-startup “innovation district” with the aim of turning the university into Europe’s MIT or Stanford. Apple—which has been in Cork, on the southern tip of the island, since 1980—expanded its campus in the city last year from 5,000 to 6,000 employees. In Limerick, Ireland’s third-biggest city, 2 billion euros’ worth of planning projects have been submitted over the past decade, according to estimates by EY-DKM Economic Advisory Services. In Galway, on the west coast, a two-acre, 100-million-euro, 370,000-square-foot waterfront complex is under development, a response to continued demand for Irish office space. Suddenly, Ireland has become a nesting ground for a flock of towering beasts once thought to be the stuff of fantasy: construction cranes.

Executives at some of the world’s largest banks have noticed. Ahead of the Brexit deadline, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays moved their EU headquarters from London to Dublin in a bid to minimize disruption; Barclays alone has shifted some $215 billion in asset management to the Irish capital. (Both banks declined to comment on the moves.) Rivals Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs have promised to bulk up their own Dublin operations in the face of U.K. uncertainty, even as they maintain offices in the British capital.

Several multinational tech companies with operations in Ireland have also unveiled plans to deepen their investment, though some say Brexit has little to do with it. Facebook, for example, has expanded its physical footprint in four sites across Ireland—its largest outside the U.S.—and plans to hire 1,000 new employees this year, bringing its total to more than 4,000. Google recently hired 1,000 workers and dedicated a building to its cloud-computing team. Both tech titans were responsible for some of the biggest real estate deals in Irish history; both, it should be noted, have also committed to sizable expansions in London’s Kings Cross district. (Facebook and Google declined to make executives available for comment.) Microsoft, which has operated in Ireland since 1985, will employ 2,200 people after its latest recruitment push, mostly at its campus in Leopardstown, about seven miles from central Dublin.

Last year Ireland counted 230,000 employees of multinational corporations, its highest-ever number and a significant slice of the country’s 4.8 million population. According to the Industrial Development Authority, Ireland’s foreign-investment arm, more than 4,500 jobs will move from London to Dublin as a direct result of Brexit—and with them a sizable chunk of what EY estimates to be a trillion-dollar asset exodus from Britain.