Chairperson and CEO Overview
2025 marked the first year of IDA Ireland’s 2025-2029 strategy, Adapt Intelligently. Against a backdrop of heightened trade uncertainty, IDA recorded a strong performance, supporting new investment and the transformation of our existing client base.
During the year, IDA supported 323 investments associated with the expected creation of 15,319 jobs. On the ground employment in IDA client companies reached 312,468 (up 1.5% year on year), with regional employment rising to a record 169,967. Beyond employment, the wider economic contribution of multinationals continues to be felt across the country through increased spend on Irish services, materials and payroll.
In this context, the 2025 results are strong evidence of the resilience of IDA client companies, and Ireland’s continued attractiveness as a stable location in which to invest and grow. At the same time, as global competition for mobile investment intensifies, maintaining that position will depend on competitiveness and above all delivery on enhancing key enabling conditions.
FDI Performance in 2025
The figures below summarise the scale of IDA’s client base and the year’s investment outcomes, including performance across regions and strategic transformation priorities.
IDA Ireland’s client base spans more than 1,800 multinational operations across a broad mix of sectors. In 2025, overall client employment recorded notable growth, with a net increase of 4,726 roles, bringing direct employment to 312,468 people - around 11% of total national employment for the fourth year in a row.
Employment outside Dublin rose to 169,967, with regional locations now representing 54% of total client employment. Most regions recorded growth. The strongest increases were in the South-East (+3.9%), Border (+3.6%) and West (+2.3%), while more modest movements were seen in the South-West (+2.2%) Dublin (+1.8%), and the Mid-West (+0.8%). Meanwhile, the Midlands (-5.3%) and the Mid-East (-2.5%) recorded employment declines.
Overall performance in 2025 was strong, with IDA Ireland securing 323 investments including 78 new names and associated future job creation of 15,319. Notably, 57% of all investments (183) were won for regional locations – a strong outcome that underlines the depth and competitiveness of our regional proposition.
The year also marked a record level of transformation investment across R&D, sustainability and talent development aligned to IDA Ireland’s strategic priorities. In R&D, clients committed a record €2.5bn across 80 projects spanning all sectors. IDA Ireland clients committed to investing record levels of capital (€1bn) across 31 sustainability projects. These investments will drive carbon abatement of existing operations and carbon avoidance at new sites in the years ahead. In talent development, IDA backed 66 projects with associated client spend of €307mn, up 160% on 2025, that will result in the upskilling of more than 33,000 people. With talent availability a decisive factor in investment decisions, this acceleration in capability building is essential to sustaining and renewing Ireland’s FDI base.
These outcomes matter not only in terms of jobs, but also through the broader contribution of IDA clients to Irish enterprise activity, exports, innovation and the public finances.
Impact of FDI
IDA Ireland’s client companies continue to play a major role in Ireland’s economic and social progress, translating investment wins into sustained employment, spend, exports and R&D activity. In 2024, total expenditure by IDA clients reached €40.7bn (+4.3% on 2023)1. This comprised €11.6bn spent on Irish services, €3.8bn on Irish materials and €25.4bn in payroll. Capital investment remained strong at €12.8bn, reflecting delivery of major projects - particularly in Life Sciences. Client in-house R&D expenditure also remained resilient at €6.7bn, consistent with broader R&D activity across the portfolio. Exports grew to €471bn (+11.3% on 2023)2, underpinned by the high value goods and services produced by IDA clients in Ireland. IDA client sectors are also a significant contributor to Ireland’s tax base: in 2024, sectors led by IDA clients represented approx. 80% of corporation tax receipts.
Regional Development
Achieving balanced regional growth remains central to IDA’s mission and to sustaining public support for Ireland’s open, pro enterprise model. Across the regions, IDA client companies support more than 169,000 jobs and generate more than €19.7bn in annual spend within the Irish economy.
As noted above, in 2025 IDA Ireland supported 183 investments for regional locations. These wins included new names, expansions, investments of scale and transformation projects across manufacturing, RD&I and business services.
This performance reflects sustained engagement with stakeholders, including communities, enterprise and local government. It is also a result of continued work to strengthen the property and infrastructure ecosystem that enables enterprise to start up, expand and scale in regional Ireland.
IDA Ireland’s Regional Property Programme supports the availability of land, buildings and enabling infrastructure to meet the needs of existing and prospective clients of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, underpinned by ongoing investment to keep the portfolio fit for purpose. As part of Adapt Intelligently, Government has approved proposals to develop three Next Generation Sites, providing fully serviced regional locations capable of accommodating investments of scale.
Building on this base, IDA’s focus now turns to sustaining momentum through 2026 while helping clients navigate a more complex global operating environment.
Policy & Business Priorities
Ahead of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council, IDA welcomes the Government’s emphasis on values, competitiveness and security. Strong international partnerships, alongside steps to strengthen capital markets, support innovation and streamline regulation, will help underpin long term investment decisions and sustain FDI in Ireland and across the wider EU.
As competition for FDI increases globally, IDA retains a strong focus on the competitiveness of Ireland’s enterprise base. We are supporting client innovation and the green and digital twin transitions, while also strengthening the capability of Ireland’s workforce. This skills agenda is critical to securing and sustaining high-value FDI: through upskilling, leadership development and workforce transformation, IDA helps client companies to enhance productivity, adopt emerging technologies and build resilient, innovative operations. This will remain vital in enabling Irish-based sites to win new mandates, progress up the value chain and contribute to national priorities in digitalisation, sustainability and innovation.
In line with the Government Action Plan on Market Diversification, IDA continues to focus on ensuring we have a resilient and diversified FDI base that is well positioned for continued growth. On a geographical basis, over half of new name investments originated from outside North America in 2025. Across our core manufacturing and services sectors, IDA remains focused on attracting investment across the strategic FDI growth drivers identified in IDA’s 2025-29 strategy - digitalisation & AI, semiconductors, sustainability and health.
Delivering on these opportunities, depends on the national fundamentals that underpin enterprise confidence, including infrastructure and an effective planning and regulatory environment. Ireland’s competitiveness, and our ability to attract and retain mobile FDI, is closely linked to the efficiency and reliability of our infrastructure offering, across all regions of Ireland.
In this regard, Ireland’s approach to public investment is undergoing significant reform as Government addresses long standing structural challenges in infrastructure delivery, planning and regulation. Initiatives such as the Planning and Development Act 2024, the NDP Review, and the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce and Action Plan as well as the forthcoming Critical Infrastructure Bill reflect a coordinated effort to streamline processes, reduce uncertainty and speed up delivery. IDA welcomes these measures, and we would ask Government to continue to prioritise the timely delivery of critical infrastructure across energy, water, housing and transport.
Elsewhere on tax and incentives, IDA welcomes Government’s decision to increase the R&D tax credit to 35%. Going forward, Ireland should remain agile in relation to opportunities to further optimise the tax credit, as well as opportunities arising from the evolution of EU state aid rules.
We remain at a critical juncture for FDI and for Ireland. Despite heightened competition, IDA remains ambitious: Ireland continues to offer enterprises a strong innovation ecosystem, a skilled workforce and a pro enterprise environment that supports sustainable growth. Ireland’s longstanding track record as a stable and predictable location in which to invest is also a key strength in an uncertain world. Nevertheless, there is a need to avoid complacency. To sustain these advantages over the long term, Ireland must focus on execution - delivering the conditions that allow investment to land, scale and embed.
FDI Outlook
In the first half of 2026, IDA Ireland has continued to perform strongly on both investments and job creation, with particularly good momentum in job approvals, RD&I and talent development projects.
IDA is also actively supporting Ireland’s response to an evolving global trade landscape, staying closely engaged with clients as they evaluate the implications of a constantly changing global economic and geopolitical landscape. We will continue to bring an FDI perspective to Ireland’s approach through the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment DETE and other mechanisms including the Government Trade Forum.
Looking beyond near term volatility, the investment landscape continues to be reshaped by four powerful forces: digitalisation; deglobalisation; decarbonisation; and demographic change. Together, these trends are driving both disruption and opportunity across sectors and geographies. They frame the growth drivers identified in IDA’s strategy, align closely with the strengths of Ireland’s established FDI base, and will continue to guide our focus in attracting and landing new investment. They also reinforce the importance of domestic competitiveness - ensuring Ireland can deliver the infrastructure, skills and regulatory certainty that investment decisions require.
Conclusion
For decades, FDI has underpinned Ireland’s economic model, living standards and regional development. While uncertainty remains a feature of the global outlook, Ireland is well positioned to sustain and renew this success - building on a strong performance in 2025 and the priorities set out in IDA Ireland’s Adapt Intelligently strategy.
Looking ahead, competitiveness and simplification will be key, and delivery will matter most - accelerating enabling infrastructure in housing, energy, water and transport; strengthening skills and talent pipelines; and progressing EU and national measures that deepen the Single Market, support innovation and connectivity, and improve regulatory predictability for enterprise.
In parallel, IDA Ireland will remain firmly focused on landing and embedding high value investment - supporting innovation, talent development and sustainable growth across all regions, while continuing to diversify Ireland’s FDI base by market and sector. We appreciate the continued support of DETE, the wider Government system, and our clients and stakeholders nationwide, and we look forward to working together in the years ahead.