AmCham Publishes Special Report in the Irish Examiner
AmCham is delighted to have partnered with the Irish Examiner for our annual ‘US-Business in Ireland’ Special Report which was published today.
The 64-page supplement features contributions from AmCham 2025 President, Liz Cunningham, AmCham CEO, Paul Sweetman, and AmCham Southern Region Chair, Paul Kelleher, as well as contributions from senior leaders within AmCham member companies on Ireland’s unique business relationship with the US and why Ireland remains a destination of choice for US multinationals.
Speaking in the supplement, Paul Sweetman said: “Many US multinationals have been in Ireland for decades, and they are attracted here because of factors like talent, our ‘can do’ attitude and our pedigree for delivery. When you look at the other side of the two-way investment relationship, Ireland is now the seventh largest investor in the United States, which is a phenomenal figure given the country’s size.”
Paul noted that competitiveness remains central to this success story: “It is that spinning plate we have to constantly tend to. There is a new world of challenges and challengers, and we can’t be complacent about our global position as an attractive location for US Foreign Direct Investment.”
He said: “We are ranked fourth in the world as the most competitive location for investment, but when you delve into those stats there are some figures such as basic infrastructure where we are ranked 38th, prices were ranked 46th and scientific infrastructure ranked 20th. So there is work to be done to improve Ireland’s competitiveness.”
This is the focus of AmCham’s new strategy ‘Competing for the Future’ which launched at the end of 2024. Paul said: “We have identified five key policy pillars in order to address Ireland’s competitiveness and make sure that we rise up the rankings. This will maintain our reputation as both a very strong location for US FDI and an equally strong location to support companies using Ireland as a springboard to invest into the US and EU.”
AmCham 2025 President, Liz Cunningham highlighted Ireland’s highly educated and skilled workforce as the country’s foremost competitive advantage, noting that Ireland’s workforce has been ranked as the most productive in the world by the OECD. She said, “According to a recent survey of American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (AmCham) members, 52 percent of respondents identified Ireland’s exceptional talent pool as the primary factor influencing their decision to establish operations here. This cornerstone of Ireland’s FDI success has helped attract over 970 US multinational companies (MNCs) who directly employ over 210,000 people in the Irish economy and indirectly employ a further 168,000 people.”
However, she noted that 69 percent of survey respondents said they are experiencing difficulty filling vacancies in Ireland.
Liz said: “A shortage of specialist skills was the main barrier to filling vacancies at 46 percent, followed by availability of housing at 20 percent and general availability of talent at 18 percent. Engineering, digital, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity are the areas most in demand. AmCham recognises that addressing these challenges will allow Ireland to further increase its competitiveness for FDI."
Get your copy in today’s Irish Examiner, read the e-supplement here or view it online here