When IDA Ireland published its annual results for 2025, it offered a moment of reflection on the first year of its 2025-2029 strategy, Adapt Intelligently. The strategy focuses on strengthening long-term investment, delivering sustainable growth and scaling cutting-edge innovation across all regions.
Our 2025 annual results confirm we have gotten off to a strong start in the first strategy year. Employment in IDA client companies increased by 1.5% year-on-year to 312,400. A total of 323 new investments were secured during 2025, representing a 38% increase on the previous year and the highest number of projects ever secured by the agency. These investments are expected to deliver more than 15,300 new jobs in the coming years. Of these, 183 or 57% of these investments went to regional locations where some 170,000 people are employed by IDA client companies.
This builds on the 2024 momentum, when annual client expenditure on payroll, Irish materials and Irish services reached more than €40bn, with a further €12.8bn spent on capital projects.
Last year marked a record for R&D investments among IDA Ireland clients. 64 projects valued at €1.9bn were approved. Thanks to strong capital investment and a high number of new investors, IDA Ireland’s performance in attracting and retaining FDI remains strong despite global uncertainties and increasing competition internationally.
Several standout announcements highlight Ireland’s depth of activity across the regions:
Equifax announced a new AI Innovation Lab at its operation in Wexford. This facility is will serve as a global hub for artificial intelligence research and development and builds on the company’s more than 10-year history of AI innovation. The investment is expected to grow the Wexford workforce to more than 100 highly skilled professionals. It will bring together highly skilled data and technology specialists to create next-generation AI solutions that enhance decision-making, improve customer and consumer experiences and help global organisations reduce risk.
Staying in the South East, IBM announced an expansion of its operations in Waterford, for the second consecutive year. The leading global technology company announced that over the next three years it will hire up to 75 software engineers dedicated to research and development. The Waterford software engineers will closely collaborate with IBM’s R&D teams around the world in designing processors and firmware, in developing software and in advancing the Linux operating system.
2025 was the year that IDA Ireland welcomed Openchip to its portfolio. This pioneering European company specialises in the design and development of high-performance accelerator chips, platforms and software stacks for advanced computing applications. It announced the opening of a new design centre in Limerick, creating 70 highly skilled R&D roles.
Another new name welcomed to IDA Ireland’s client stable is health data platform Datavant, which announced the establishment of operations in Galway City and the creation of 125 jobs.
Hollister Incorporated, a global leader in ostomy, continence, wound care and critical care products, announced an €80m R&D investment and a digital transformation project that will create approximately 50 new jobs in Ballina.
Hollister’s latest investment, building on 50 years in Co. Mayo, positions Ballina as a global centre of expertise through innovative device design and comprehensive site wide training, setting a new standard for digital transformation across its global network.
Astellas, which has operated in Kerry and Dublin for more than 35 years, has announced a €129m multisite investment, reinforcing Ireland’s role as a strategic hub for the company’s global manufacturing and R&D activities.
In Cork, GE Healthcare announced a €132 million investment to expand its Carrigtohill contrast-media fill-and-finish facility. A new state-of-the-art building, located within the grounds of the existing site, will enable the production of an additional 25 million patient doses per year by the end of 2027, helping meet growing global demand.
With operations in Co. Donegal since 1981, Kirchhoff Ireland (KI), a subsidiary of Kirchhoff Automotive SE, announced its first large-scale training and transformation initiative at its Letterkenny facility. Kirchhoff will invest approximately €900,000 over the next two years in a comprehensive training programme focusing on innovation, sustainability, and digitalisation.
Ericsson announced a significant €200 million investment in a pioneering research, development and innovation (RD&I) project at its Athlone facility. The project will advance world-leading capabilities for managing high-performance, open programmable networks – critical to enabling communications service providers (CSP) to improve operational efficiency.
Suitable property availability remains essential to winning investments from both new clients and the existing client base. Over the lifetime of our strategy, IDA Ireland has committed to delivering 12 new buildings across the country. Last year IDA Ireland constructed building options in Sligo and Cavan and commenced construction of facilities in Mullingar and Letterkenny.
IDA also partners with local authorities to secure planning permission for buildings that can be taken up by clients, thereby avoiding the need to navigate the planning process. This targeted forward planning approach provides certainty and ensures we have a competitive offering that meets the evolving needs of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland clients.
Looking ahead to 2026, continued investment in critical infrastructure is vital to maintaining regional competitiveness for FDI. As global competition for investment intensifies, ensuring Ireland remains an attractive destination for FDI is critical.
In this regard IDA welcomes the findings of the Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan published in December 2025 which represents a decisive step in addressing barriers to infrastructure provision, speeding up the deployment of €102bn in capital expenditure to 2030 via various Government sectoral plan which will drive competitiveness and productivity in the Irish economy.
