Enterprise Ireland is unabashedly donning the green jersey in the US this week.
It's their raison d'etre after all, to support Irish firms abroad, but St. Patricks’ Day provides the perfect backdrop for meetings and business events.
On Monday morning, Amazon and Enterprise Ireland held a breakfast meeting to discuss the collaboration between Irish high-tech construction and engineering firms and Amazon, who are building data centres in Ireland and the US.
One example, CEL Critical Power, has invested $40 million to open a 400,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2025, creating 250 high-skilled jobs with plans to reach 500 employees by 2030.
This is just part of the good news being trumpeted by Enterprise Ireland, which is keen to get the message out that Ireland is the fifth largest investor in the US.
CEO of the agency, Jenny Melia said; "When we stand back and we look at the importance of the US market to Irish companies, it is our third largest export market after Europe and the UK."
She points to the 8% increase in exports to the US in 2024, but also the $389bn investment by Irish companies in the US that year.
"It's a staggering figure, you know, for a small country like Ireland of just over 5 million people."
But how does the volatility of the tariffs regime impact businesses investing here and doing business here?
Ms Melia says "uncertainty is never helpful for businesses, and particularly for small companies, because it is always that little bit more challenging to help them navigate.
But that's where Enterprise Ireland comes to the fore, then, in terms of using our market experts on the ground to work closely with the companies ...make sure they're getting the real time insights, the local knowledge on the ground that they're staying close to their customers."
What of the bad rap data centers have had in terms of their energy and water use?
Jenny Melia says that’s something that Irish firms are leading on, having spent time in Texas as the South by Southwest convention.
"When you look at the ambition in Texas to have to be the number one state in terms of data centers in the US...what the Irish companies are bringing to the table are the energy efficient and the water efficient, more sustainable solutions that are needed now to drive a sustainable data sector industry that will support AI."
Eoin O’Cathain from the Irish Whiskey Association represents 45 whiskey firms in Ireland.
He said they’ve seen a 5% decline in exports of Irish whiskey in the last year, which he puts down to Trump’s 15% tariff on spirits going into America.
"What we have noticed is, when there are new investments to be made, where there are new expansions to be made. These distilleries are focusing on new markets, on market diversification, and not here in the US."
He also cited the uncertainty the tariffs regime brings.
"The US is the biggest market. Any uncertainty in that market is very confusing and distressing for distillers. I think a lot of them have factored it in. However, the longer the tariff remains, the harder it is not to increase the price on shelf. And of course, that would have an inflationary impact on the US consumer."
He’s hopeful there will be some progress on tariffs in the coming weeks and months, and says stabilisation will benefit all involved.
