Minister for Enterprise leads significant Enterprise Ireland investment mission across Ireland

Pictured this morning at the start of Enterprise Ireland’s two-day investment mission is (l-r); Jenny Melia, CEO Designate, Enterprise Ireland; Peter Burke, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment; and Alan Hobbs, Head of the Global Irish Business Unit at Enterprise Ireland


Two-day programme, meeting with some of the largest Irish owned global businesses

Focus on strengthening ties and exploring new opportunities for further investment here

Peter Burke TD, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, has today commenced a two-day Enterprise Ireland investment mission, focused on strengthening ties with some of the largest Irish-owned global businesses that are headquartered in Ireland. 

This investment mission will see Minister Burke visiting and engaging with a number of Ireland’s homegrown multinational companies at their offices here in Ireland. Discussions will focus on exploring new opportunities for further investment in Ireland, addressing global opportunities and challenges, and potential areas for further collaboration with Ireland’s entrepreneurial and research ecosystems. 

This is the first such investment mission from Enterprise Ireland, led by the agency’s new Global Irish Business Unit which was established last year to focus on stimulating investment and deepening relations with global Irish businesses who are making significant contributions to the Irish economy.  

Over the course of the two days, a number of Enterprise Ireland client companies are set to provide the Minister with updates on business activities, including Ryanair, Kingspan, ICON PLC, Uniphar and Smurfit Westrock. 

This two-day investment mission demonstrates a commitment to nurturing indigenous global businesses, and provides a platform for significant discussions with the leadership teams from these companies around potential opportunities to expand their operations here.  

A key objective of the mission is to encourage more value add-activity by these global leaders in Ireland, and to help connect them further with the various aspects of the Irish entrepreneurial and research ecosystems, maximising their contribution to Ireland’s economy. 

This strategic investment mission comes as Enterprise Ireland last week confirmed that exports from Irish-owned companies supported by the agency reached a record €36.75bn in 2024, up 7% on the year prior.  Employment at companies supported by Enterprise Ireland also reached record levels last year, with 234,454 people employed in these businesses around the country. 

Enterprise Ireland is committed to supporting companies at all stages of growth, including companies on their scaling journey.  In our recently published new five-year strategy, ‘Delivering for Ireland, Leading Globally (2025-2029)’, Enterprise Ireland outlined an ambition of increasing the number of world-leading Irish companies, with targets of; 275,000 employed in Enterprise Ireland supported companies by the end of 2029, €50 billion in export sales, and having 150 large Irish exporting companies of more than 250 employees supported by Enterprise Ireland by the end of the five-year strategy.

Speaking this morning as he commenced this investment mission, Minister Burke said;  “Nurturing the development of homegrown Irish success stories is of huge importance to this government, and this investment mission provides a unique opportunity to engage directly with some of Ireland’s top business leaders, to identify new opportunities for growth, and to understand more about challenges they are facing.  Engaging and meeting directly with entrepreneurs and leaders is hugely important in terms of understanding challenges facing the Irish enterprise base, and I am delighted to lead this important investment mission.” 

The travelling delegation, which will be led by Minister Burke with support from Jenny Melia, CEO Designate of Enterprise Ireland, also provides an opportunity to highlight Ireland as an ideal location for new centres of excellence in digitalisation, research and development, HR, finance, and sustainability.  

Jenny Melia, CEO Designate, Enterprise Ireland said; “Working with Irish companies at all stages of their growth journey is at the centre of everything we do in Enterprise Ireland. Scaling companies is a key priority for Enterprise Ireland, and it is our long-term ambition that exporting Irish companies become the primary driver of the Irish economy. 

“A number of important factors are required to foster a company’s scaling ambition, including funding, skills and talent, and support in global markets.  And Enterprise Ireland stands ready to support companies across all of these pillars.  These established multinationals we are meeting with through this investment mission all make a significant contribution to our economy, and we look forward to hearing from them and learning more about new potential areas of collaboration.” 

Alan Hobbs, Head of the Global Irish Business Unit at Enterprise Ireland, said; “Agile and innovative Irish businesses continue to be successful in overseas markets, demonstrating their ability to compete and win internationally, and over the next five years, Enterprise Ireland will bring a renewed focus to ensuring that we enable more Irish businesses to scale, and to do so at a faster rate. Irish-owned multinationals with a significant presence in Ireland are at the forefront of innovation and are global leaders in their fields. And Enterprise Ireland will continue to collaborate with these businesses to deliver further job creation across the country as they continue to scale.” 

The meetings over the course of these two days also provide an opportunity for strong engagement with these global companies and to hear about any potential concerns regarding the global trading environment and geopolitical challenges.  

Ends

For additional information, contact:

Emma Jane Hade
Senior Communications Manager, Enterprise Ireland
emma-jane.hade@enterprise-ireland.com