Driving Business Success from Ireland

Liz Cunningham

AmCham 2025 President

Successful business relationships are measured by the tangible outcomes of growth, innovation, collaboration and resilience. In short, success is the ability to achieve long-term strategic goals. By any measure of achievement, the US-Ireland trade and investment relationship stands out as a resounding success story.

With only 0.06 percent of the global population, Ireland is now the 6th largest foreign director investor into the US. In 2023, Ireland invested over $320 billion in the US economy, a staggering 1,600 percent increase on 2013 figures.

This is a direct result of the over 500 Irish companies with operations in the US. These companies employ 118,000 people across all 50 states. Alongside this, there are over 970 US companies in Ireland, directly employing 211,000 people.

Importantly, these figures steadily rose over consecutive US administrations. Between 2016 and 2020, there was a 14 percent increase in the number of US companies with operations in Ireland and a 20 percent increase in the number of people employed across those operations. In the period of 2020 to 2024, there was a 21 percent increase of US companies in Ireland and a corresponding 17 percent increase in direct employment.

As the US-Ireland investment relationship continues to grow, with companies on both sides of the Atlantic creating life enhancing and lifesaving products and services, imports and exports between our two nations have also risen. In 2024, exports from Ireland to the US were worth over €60 billion, a 30 percent increase on 2023. Additionally, there was a 9 percent increase in imports from the US to Ireland over the same period.

Many factors contribute to the success of this relationship, in particular a shared ambition for continued growth and innovation. Looking to the future of US-Ireland trade and investment - and indeed to the broader US-EU partnership - it is evident that Ireland will play a pivotal role in ensuring continued success for the benefit of all. As AmCham’s 2025 President, I will place a focus on three areas to support growth:

• Making Ireland the primary economic bridge between the US and EU

• Enhancing Ireland’s Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) offering

• Building Ireland’s future talent and skills pipeline.

Making Ireland the primary economic bridge between the US and EU

The US-EU economic relationship represents the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world. It is clearly crucial to the success of both economies.

As the only common-law, English-speaking country in the EU, Ireland now acts as a bridge between the US and Europe, and we play a central role in facilitating transatlantic engagement between the business community and policymakers.

Many of the opportunities to increase the EU’s competitiveness for FDI are reflected in the opportunities that we see here in Ireland. Advancing the digital economy, improving infrastructure, encouraging R&D and building resilient global supply chains, are all essential elements for a competitive Ireland and competitive Europe. As a prime example, Ireland’s role as a regulatory hub within the EU is creating much needed clarity and efficiency for businesses in Ireland, Europe and the US.

By harnessing Ireland’s unique business, social and cultural ties across the US and EU - by being that bridge - we can strengthen the US-EU bilateral relationship while also boosting Ireland’s competitive edge for business. AmCham Ireland will support this work through advancing our relationships with sister AmChams across the EU and the Washington DC based US Chamber of Commerce.

Enhancing Ireland’s RD&I offering

Establishing Ireland as a global centre for research excellence will be critical to the future success of the US-Ireland investment relationship.

Ireland’s R&D tax credit has been pivotal in encouraging many companies to consider Ireland as an investment location in recent years. More than half of respondents to our latest AmCham FDI Insights Survey said they have availed of the R&D tax credit in the last 5 years, and 50 percent of respondents said their organisation is currently undertaking one or more research projects in Ireland. AI, software, pharmaceuticals and sustainability are among the top research areas for our members.

However, AmCham members all agree that enhancing the R&D tax credit is crucial to maintaining Ireland’s competitiveness for FDI.

AmCham will continue its focus on advocating for improvements to Ireland’s R&D tax credit system, alongside increased collaboration between business, academia and research institutions. We will also push for Ireland to be a leading voice within the EU, calling for a more competitive European RD&I ecosystem.

Building Ireland’s future talent and skills pipeline

Core to Ireland’s competitiveness is a robust, adaptable and sustainable talent and skills pipeline. AmCham members universally agree that certainty regarding the availability of highly skilled talent is important to growing FDI employment in Ireland.

Over the past decades, Ireland has had significant success in providing top-level talent for business. We are ranked first globally for attracting and retaining international talent, Irish workers are the most productive in the world and 63 percent of 25–34 year olds have attained a third level education compared to an EU average of 41 percent.

Despite this, according to our most recent survey, two thirds of AmCham members are still experiencing difficulty in filling vacancies, with engineering, digital, data and cyber the areas where organisations are facing the largest skills gaps.

In addressing these challenges, AmCham will advocate for the ongoing mapping of skills needs to match the pace of innovation and change within industry. There must also be a corresponding improvement in the competitiveness of Ireland's personal tax regime and of the country’s quality of life offering. Increased funding and supports for Ireland’s universities, education institutions and apprenticeship programmes are also essential.

Our strategic advantages and collaborative ecosystem make Ireland not only a top destination for US FDI but also a powerful springboard into European and global markets. As AmCham’s 2025 President, I look forward to working with the AmCham Board, members and stakeholders, to boost Ireland’s attractiveness for talent, improve our RD&I ecosystem and strengthen Ireland’s overall competitiveness. This will bolster the long-standing US-Ireland two-way economic relationship, allowing us to capture the next wave of growth and support existing investments to thrive.