With close cultural links, a common language and similar legal structure, not to mention skilled talent in abundance, Ireland is an ideal route for companies from Australia and New Zealand looking to expand into the European market.
When I speak with senior leaders from ANZ businesses, I realise many of Ireland’s strengths as a location for inward investment are not widely known.
When deciding on expanding abroad, the first question that senior executives invariably ask is about talent and availability. In this respect, Ireland meets their needs and more. They’re often surprised to learn that although Ireland may be a small country in geographical terms, it has the youngest population in Europe, the highest proportion of third level graduates per capita, and the second highest number of graduates in the science, technology, engineering and maths disciplines in the EU.
Skilled talent on tap
As Michael Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg LP and former mayor of New York, put it: “All that skilled talent – more than any tax rate or regulatory decision – is why chief executives are turning to Ireland.”What’s more, Ireland’s talent pool isn’t confined to its territory. As a longtime member of the European Union, Ireland benefits from the free movement of people, which means that businesses operating there can access a talent pool of 300 million workers from across the continent. And if a company wants to relocate team members from a non-EU country to work in Ireland, they can do so much easier, with processes designed to speed up those applications where needed.
This point illustrates another advantage about setting up operations in Ireland: the ease of doing business. Ireland is the only country in the EU that operates the common law system, so instantly, it feels familiar to companies from Australia and New Zealand. There are fewer complications, and it’s easier for those businesses to operate in such an environment.
Ease of doing business
SiteMinder, the hotel commerce platform headquartered in Sydney, chose Galway city in the West of Ireland for an office in 2016, just 10 short years after the company was founded. Jonathan Kenny, SiteMinder’s Chief Operating Officer, specifically calls out the supportive business environment when asked about what made Ireland a good choice. The team in Galway has been “instrumental” in delivering customer support and onboarding services to our European clients, he said.“The IDA has been a collaborative partner throughout our journey, and we’ve found Galway offers both a strong cultural fit and the stability needed for sustainable, long-term growth. The combination of skilled professionals, supportive infrastructure, and a conducive business environment has made Galway an ideal location for our European operations,” he told me.
One of the more recent arrivals is Plenary Group of Melbourne, which set up an Irish office earlier this year. The company is an investor, developer and manager of public-private partnerships. Founding director Ray Wilson is a native of Dublin who moved to Australia in the mid-1980s. He said “the establishment of a Dublin office demonstrates the Plenary’s commitment to Ireland as it looks to the delivery of its significant pipeline of infrastructure projects.”
ANZ businesses already in Ireland
Other Australian and New Zealand companies with a presence in Ireland include Macquarie Bank, OFX, Link Group, Humm Group, World Nomads (now NIB), ALS, and Computershare. The financial tech company Humm has close to 50 people in Ireland, where it has an R&D function. Macquarie has been in Ireland for more than two decades. Its Europe DAC is registered and incorporated in Ireland, and its Ireland site supports the bank’s wider European operations.Its story in Ireland is a familiar one: more than one-third of the 1,800 multinationals in Ireland have been there for more than 20 years, and have grown since, often expanding their operations far beyond their original mission. Senior leaders are reassured by such consistent staying power from companies; they don’t just make one-time investments.
In fact, Ireland’s history in attracting major inward investment goes back 75 years to when IDA was first set up as the Irish Government’s investment promotion agency. And this isn’t just a historical fact but a story of continued success; for the first half of this year, investments by global companies were up by almost 40% compared to the same period in 2024. What’s more, R&D projects made up 25% of total investments last year according to EY, which points to Ireland’s position as a knowledge economy.
Ability and stability
And it’s a pleasure to be able to tell the ANZ business leaders I meet about Ireland’s ability to attract companies across a broad range of industry sectors, from financial services to life sciences, engineering or technology. Many are surprised to hear that there are more than 52,000 people in the financial services sector in Ireland, up from 30,000 since 2015.The business leaders I have spoken with also tell me they prize political stability. It’s this consistent pro-business approach, no matter which party happens to be in Government, that has enabled Ireland to attract so many multinationals over the years. And because of this continued stability, they have the confidence to reinvest.
Partnering with you on your investment
Much of the reason for this lies in IDA Ireland’s model of ongoing partnership in working with the global businesses that set up in Ireland. The welcoming approach starts long before a company makes its investment decision. Our team organises itineraries for visiting Ireland to assess potential sites and to meet peer companies from their sector. We know from experience that these interactions are always open and honest conversations about their experiences of doing business in Ireland.(Let me add here, from my own experience of working in Europe and dealing with companies from across the EU, I can say that Irish business leaders are often more relaxed and informal, and are open to listening and talking. In fact, I see many similarities with senior executives in Australia and New Zealand, who are relationship-driven and open-minded and purpose driven.)
The support doesn’t stop once a company has made the decision to set up operations in Ireland; that’s just the start of a continuing dialogue. The team at IDA Ireland continues to work with all client companies at various stages of their investment journey. We can facilitate introductions to government agencies, or look at growth plans for the business and support them in upskilling their people, engaging in R&D, lean initiatives for improving efficiencies in their Irish operations, or exploring sustainability projects. In many cases, there are various financial supports available to help companies with those projects.
In other words, the path to setting up and sustaining an international business from Ireland is well paved, carefully and continually maintained, with a welcome mat awaiting new visitors keen to invest for the first time.