THE MINISTER FOR Enterprise Simon Coveney is travelling to the US West Coast today for a series of high-level meetings with a range of companies. 

Coveney will hear from enterprise leaders and highlight Ireland’s value as a location for foreign direct investment.

The minister will also visit some existing IDA client companies based in the region.

Speaking ahead of his visit he stated that the IDA continues to see a healthy pipeline of investment in the first half of this year:

“The Irish economy is very strong at the moment, last year we saw an extra 24,000 jobs in IDA companies and that was led by the tech sector in many ways. We saw in terms of EI companies almost an extra 11,000 jobs and in terms of small companies that are relying on Local Enterprise Office supports, again we saw a net 3,500 jobs growth figure right across the country.

“The impact on Ireland so far of tech sector announcements isn’t anything like the impact on some other countries and other parts of the world, but it will impact on some people and the State will be there to support those people. We have a very strong economy at the moment and a very strong tech sector.

More than 800 US multi-national companies invest over €5 billion in the Irish economy every year, creating over 180,000 jobs, while indigenous Irish companies have 800 locations in every US State and employ more than 110,000 people.            

Coveney continued:

“The Irish economy is strong and growing, adding jobs and is at full employment. Last year we sanctioned more than 40,000 work permits, many of them to work in these multi-nationals.”

The United States is Ireland’s largest trading partner. In 2021 the value of trade between the two countries was €255 billion, which represented 30% of Ireland’s total global trade.