Exports by companies backed by Enterprise Ireland saw a record year in 2021 as it rose by 12pc over the previous year.

Enterprise Ireland is the State agency responsible for the success of Irish businesses abroad. Its portfolio companies contributed a total of €31bn to Ireland’s domestic economy last year.

Published today (12 July), the figures show that exports have grown in all major territories that the companies do business in, such as the UK, Eurozone and North America.

The UK remains Ireland’s biggest export market, generating €8.43bn – nearly one-third – of the total export value. This marks a 15pc rise in exports to the UK based on 2020 figures.

Next in line is the Eurozone, where Enterprise Ireland has been trying to increase the presence of Irish businesses. A total of €6.4bn (22pc) of exports went to this region, marking a 10pc rise.

North America saw a 14pc increase in exports to account for nearly one-fifth of all exports, raking in €4.87bn in 2021.

Digital technology firms exported goods and services worth €1.53bn, a one-fifth increase over the previous year, while those by the engineering sector rose by 14pc in 2021 to €1.82bn.

“These are really impressive results and a testament to the hard work and resilience of thousands of Irish entrepreneurs and their staff across the country,” said Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, TD.

“It is quite remarkable that despite the headwinds we faced last year, not least the realisation of Brexit and the continuing effects of the pandemic, Irish business managed to have a record year for exports. Behind these figures today are thousands of jobs in every county in the country.”

Varadkar said he was glad to see diversification in the markets Irish businesses export to, including significant growth in the Eurozone and North America, as well as smaller markets such as the Middle East, Africa, India and Latin America.

“While the UK remains our largest trading partner it is good to see that our strategy to grow exports in other key markets, especially the Eurozone, continues to pay dividends,” said Enterprise Ireland CEO Leo Clancy.

What lies ahead

Enterprise Ireland has also released some figures from the first six months of this year. 561 new overseas contracts have been secured, 85pc of which are outside the UK. Portfolio companies have established 199 new overseas presences and 93 companies have entered new markets.

However, both Varadkar and Clancy warned that there are challenges ahead for the second half of the year, particularly the growing impact of inflation, including energy costs, continuing supply chain issues and the lack of experienced staff.

“We have plenty of challenges still ahead. The global inflation crisis and Putin’s war on Ukraine are putting huge pressure on energy supplies, providing another impetus on business to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and do what they can to become more efficient with their resources,” said Varadkar.

Companies are also facing challenges in the areas of climate change, sustainability and digitalisation as well as in adapting to potential skills shortages. Only one-third of surveyed client companies said have developed a climate action response for their business.

“These exceptionally strong export results follow on from the record number of net new jobs created in companies supported by Enterprise Ireland last year,” added Clancy.

“Our focus in the second half of the year is to work with clients to help them sustain and grow their employment, to support them through company investments to address sustainability and competitiveness issues and to continue to work with clients to build their export markets.”

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