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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Market Challenges
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As a small, open economy, Ireland is vulnerable to geopolitical and global economic pressures. The lessons of Brexit and the new trading relationship between the EU and the UK have aided government and industry planning for the United States-European Union framework agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade. While global tax reform will likely impact some business decisions, Ireland’s stable political and economic environment should sustain its attractiveness for international business in the near term. 

Like other nations, Ireland is continually increasing its resources to fight cyber-attacks, and the government’s refusal to concede to a May 2021 ransomware attack on its national healthcare system has set a strong precedent to not give in to malicious behavior. Legislation to implement an investment screening regime for foreign direct investment in Ireland came into effect in January 2025. 

The government is eager to support businesses and showed this throughout the pandemic and more recently during periods of high fuel cost inflation, when business subsidies ensured domestic businesses’ survival throughout numerous lockdowns. Regarding long-term business support, the roll out of nationwide broadband and other physical infrastructure projects can be slow. Underinvestment in energy infrastructure has resulted in a lack of security around energy supply. Project Ireland 2040 is the government’s plan to provide for regional development and to improve the nation’s infrastructure with a focus on the digital economy. The plan is based on the premise that one million extra people will be living in Ireland in 25 years. 

While there are calls from industry groups for an increase in capital spending, suppliers continue to face significant price pressures at current levels when doing business with the public sector. Strong competition from Irish and European suppliers with geographic localization advantages dictates that U. S. exporters must offer a combination of innovative and high-quality products at competitive prices. 

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

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.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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