Ireland Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in ireland, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Investment Climate Statement
Last published date:

The U.S. Department of State’s Investment Climate Statements help U.S. companies make informed business decisions by providing up-to-date information on the investment climates of more than 170 countries and economies. They are prepared by our embassies and consulates around the world and analyze each economy’s openness to foreign investment. Topics include:

  • Openness to, and Restrictions upon, Foreign Investment,

  • Investment and Taxation Treaties,

  • Legal Regime,

  • Industrial Policies,

  • Protection of Property Rights,

  • Financial Sector,

  • State-owned Enterprises,

  • Corruption,

  • Labor Policies and Practices,

  • Political and Security Environment, and

  • U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Other Investment Insurance or Development Finance Programs

Each statement provides a starting point for U.S. firms and offers a point of contact at the relevant U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.

These reports are also a resource for foreign governments to create business environments that ensure fair treatment for the United States and our companies and investors. 

To access the full Investment Climate Statement, visit the U.S. Department of State Investment Climate Statements website
 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Ireland

The Irish government actively promotes foreign direct investment (FDI) and has had considerable success in attracting investment, particularly from the United States. There are approximately 970 U.S. subsidiaries in Ireland operating primarily in the following sectors: chemicals, biosciences, pharmaceutical and medical devices, computer hardware and software, digital media, electronics, and financial services.

While one of Ireland’s many attractive features as an FDI destination has been its 12.5 percent corporate income tax (in place since 2003), it raised the rate to 15 percent in January 2024, in accordance with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Inclusive Framework Agreement for a 15 percent global minimum tax. Firms routinely note that they also come to Ireland for the highly qualified and flexible English-speaking workforce, the availability of a multilingual labor force, cooperative labor relations, political stability, and pro-business government policies and regulators. Ireland benefits from its membership in the EU and barrier-free access to a market of approximately 450 million consumers. The clustering of existing successful industries has created an ecosystem attractive to new firms. Brexit left Ireland as the largest of only two remaining countries in the EU (the other is Malta) where English is an official language.

The Irish government treats all firms incorporated in Ireland on an equal basis. Ireland’s judicial system is transparent and upholds the sanctity of contracts, as well as laws affecting foreign investment. Ireland’s ability to attract future investment is potentially marred, however, by relatively high labor and operating costs, a relatively burdensome planning permit system, infrastructure challenges, and housing shortages.

Ireland has a high dependence on imports of natural gas for power generation. The effect on prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, combined with climate change targets, has increased risks to the security of energy supplies. New data centers, critical to the operations of many U.S. firms, must meet new requirements regarding location, energy consumption, and energy storage as Ireland’s electricity system struggles to meet demand. A moratorium on new data center construction began in Dublin in 2022, and the government has approved only a few new data center construction projects outside the capital from 2022 to 2024. In February 2025, Ireland’s energy regulator published a draft energy connection policy for large energy users (LEUs), which would allow for data center connections to the grid under certain circumstances, with LEUs providing their own locally sourced energy generation and storage capacity.

Legislation for a national security screening process for foreign investment in line with the EU framework is in place and took effect in January 2025. Investors requesting government grants or assistance through one of the six government departments and agencies responsible for promoting foreign investment in Ireland are often required to meet certain employment and investment criteria.

Several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) operate in Ireland in the energy, broadcasting, and transportation sectors. All of Ireland’s SOEs are open to competition for market share. 

View the 2025 Ireland Investment Climate Statement: https://www.state.gov/reports/2025-investment-climate-statements/ireland/

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Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

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