{"id":516429,"date":"2026-06-24T19:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516429\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T19:12:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T19:12:21","slug":"two-thirds-of-investors-plan-to-expand-in-ireland-over-next-year-says-ey-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516429\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-thirds of investors plan to expand in Ireland over next year, says EY \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland remains attractive to international investment, according to EY<\/a>, even amid economic uncertainty spurred by the war in the Gulf.<\/p>\n

Two in every three investors indicated an intent to establish or expand operations in Ireland over the next year, according to EY Ireland\u2019s Attractiveness survey for 2026. <\/p>\n

That compares to the average across Europe of about 54 per cent. <\/p>\n

The survey assessed 150 international foreign direct investment<\/a> (FDI) decision-makers on sentiment towards Ireland. The consultancy carried out equivalent assessments elsewhere across Europe.<\/p>\n

Those surveyed reflected a number of different sectors including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, financial services, high-tech, industrials, consumer and professional services. <\/p>\n

A third of those who plan to invest in Irish operations are focused mainly on research and development (R&D). In 2025, the report noted that R&D projects accounted for a quarter of all FDI into Ireland, up from 12 per cent in 2022. <\/p>\n

These findings come against the backdrop of R&D projects declining by 30 per cent across Europe last year, positioning Ireland as a European leader in the knowledge economy. <\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s R&D tax credit was increased to 35 per cent in the most recent budget. <\/p>\n

Last month, Minister for Finance Simon Harris<\/a> hinted there may be increased R&D tax credits<\/a> set to come specifically aimed at subcontractors. <\/p>\n

Other reasons cited by investors as underpinning their confidence in Ireland as an FDI destination included access to EU markets and competitive tax policy. <\/p>\n

Just under two-thirds also expect Ireland\u2019s attractiveness to improve over the next three years. This was marginally up from last year\u2019s figure of 61 per cent, suggesting investors remained optimistic about Ireland\u2019s potential as an investment location despite a year of geopolitical turmoil, EY said.<\/p>\n

While the findings broadly indicated a positive forecast for FDI in Ireland, infrastructure was identified as a challenge to Ireland\u2019s competitiveness, with a third of investors naming this the most significant risk to the State\u2019s future attractiveness.<\/p>\n

More than 40 per cent of respondents named transport, energy, water and housing as policy priorities for investment. <\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation incentives are becoming a defining factor in attracting FDI and, as AI [artificial intelligence<\/a>] accelerates innovation, the countries that offer competitive incentives for investing in R&D and connect research to real-world impact most effectively will be better positioned to capture the next waves of investment,\u201d said Feargal de Freine, EY Ireland head of FDI. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, investors are also pointing to the challenges associated with the country\u2019s infrastructure deficit, and sustained momentum on the delivery of the National Development Plan to address these will be key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland also recorded 28 FDI projects last year, increasing by 65 per cent from the 17 FDI projects in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland remains attractive to international investment, according to EY, even amid economic uncertainty spurred by the war in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[218,113,40229,29418,61,60,43,70],"class_list":["post-516429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-economy","tag-ey","tag-foreign-direct-investment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-simon-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}