Discovering Ireland's economic links with the United States

Since my arrival in Washington in August of this year, I have been on a voyage of discovery and have sought to immerse myself in the Ireland-US relationship in all of its many dimensions. 

The unique set of ties that connect our two countries is sustained by the kinship that many Americans feel with Ireland on account of their descent from Irish immigrants who in generations past came to the United States in search of a better life. They and their descendants have helped shape America and contributed to making it the country it is today. Looking back, we can be proud of their lives and their legacy. For their part, Irish people tend to feel a special connection with the US on account of the historical bonds and cultural affinities between us.  Our people like to visit the United States for business and pleasure while one in ten Americans who visit Europe each year come to Ireland. There were almost 2 million arrivals in Ireland from North America in the first 11 months of 2017. These people-to-people contact will serve to refresh and renew traditional family links across the Atlantic.       

These past few months, I have also become familiar with the story of Ireland's economic engagement with the United States. While there have always been important commercial connections between our two countries, these began to accelerate in the 1960s when, with active encouragement from our side as part of the opening up of the Irish economy to international trade and investment, American companies started to set up manufacturing bases in Ireland. Those industrial companies helped bring about a transformation of the Irish economy from the predominantly agricultural one that existed in the 1960s to today’s Ireland which specialises in such sectors as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, information technology and financial and business services in addition to our traditional strengths in food and beverages.   

Encouraged by the successful track record of US companies in Ireland, more and more businesses have been attracted to our shores in recent decades. Today, there are some 700 US firms with investments in Ireland. Between them, they employ some 150,000 people, or approximately 7.5% of our workforce. Those US companies often use Ireland as a base for their operations within the European Union. Their presence in Ireland gives them unfettered access to a market of some 500 million consumers. They benefit from Ireland's well-educated, English-speaking workforce, from a supportive Irish Government, from a business environment conducive to success and from a stable and competitive system of corporate taxation with a tax rate of 12.5%. 

There is another side to the Ireland-US economic story, one that is less well-known than the impact of US investment in Ireland. I refer to the 400 Irish companies with investments in the United States. Between them, those companies employ up to 100,000 Americans in all 50 US States. Many of these investments have occurred in recent years and I expect this trend of Irish companies investing in the US to continue in the coming years. 

There is, therefore, a two-way flow of trade and investment between us which benefits both of our economies and our two peoples. Irish-US trade now totals almost $100 billion, which is an impressive figure considering that Ireland has a population of less than 5 million. Irish-US trade is also quite balanced with Ireland having a surplus in manufactured goods while the US runs a surplus with Ireland in trade in services.

I fully expect our commercial ties with the US to deepen in the coming years. With the UK's impending departure from the EU (something we in Ireland did not want to see come about), Ireland is set to become an even more attractive base within the EU for US companies.  After Brexit, we will be the only English-speaking country in the European Union. As our economy continues to strengthen - and GDP growth this year is likely to be somewhere close to 5% - Irish companies will, I am sure, continue to seek opportunities to internationalise their operations and, for many reasons, the US is likely to provide an attractive outlet for them.

The outlook for Irish-US economic ties is, I believe, strongly positive. It will be a big part of my task here in the coming years, in conjunction with our Irish State Agencies, Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board), Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, Culture Ireland and Tourism Ireland to encourage and support the further deepening of an already special economic partnership between our two countries.

Daniel Mulhall is Ireland's Ambassador in Washington