Expanding into
Ireland
Expanding into Ireland – which is characterised by a well-educated, ambitious, and adaptable workforce, multifaceted employment and tax laws, an extensive infrastructure network linking to Europe and beyond, and leading sectors in pharmaceutical and medical technology, software, ICT, financial services, trade, agriculture, mining, and fishing – can bring excitement to the possibilities, but also significant stress to ensuring the entity with the country’s rigid legal structures and laws.
Get the Support You Need
Ensuring compliance without sufficient knowledge of the country’s laws also adds stress to getting your new entity off the ground and ready to test new markets. Going at it without the proper support can increase the costs, time and risks involved.
Global expansion is a step for any business, regardless of your goal. The opportunities that can come with an expansion can be both incredibly exciting as well as intimidating and confusing, especially when you consider all of the registration procedures that need to be done and the documentation required.
This can be worked through efficiently and cost-effectively with the support of an international Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) such as Bradford Jacobs, especially through our Employer of Record (EOR) framework. This can be best utilised when businesses are just beginning their expansion process and require more information before committing to incorporating an entity and fully establishing themselves in the Irish market.
Hiring Staff
in Ireland
The economy of the Republic of Ireland is a highly developed knowledge economy focused on services in high-tech, life sciences, financial services, and agribusiness, including agri-food. Ireland is an open economy (5th on the Index of Economic Freedom) and ranks first for high-value foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. In the global GDP per capita tables, Ireland ranks 4th of 186 in the IMF table and 4th of 187 in the World Bank ranking.
Foreign-owned multinationals continue to contribute significantly to Ireland’s economy, making up 14 of the top 20 Irish firms (by turnover), employing 23% of the private sector labour force and paying 80% of the collected corporation tax.
As of mid-2019, economic growth in Ireland was predicted to decline, especially in the event of a disorderly Brexit.
One of Europe’s major financial hubs is centred on Dublin. Ireland ranks among the top ten wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita. However, this has been partly ascribed to distortions caused by the tax inversion practices of various multinationals operating in Ireland. In 2017, the Central Bank of Ireland enacted a modified gross national income (GNI*) as the standard deviation was considered too materially distorted to measure or represented the Irish economy accurately.
After joining the EC (the European Communities, the predecessor of the European Union), the country’s government enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in economic growth between 1995 and 2007, now known as the Celtic Tiger period, before its subsequent reversal during the Great Recession.
Ireland’s quality of life is ranked among the highest in the world. The country performs well in several national performance metrics, including healthcare, economic freedom, and freedom of the press. Ireland is a member of the European Union and a founding member of the Council of Europe and the OECD. The Irish government has followed a policy of military neutrality through non-alignment since immediately before World War II, and the country is consequently not a member of NATO. However, it is a member of the Partnership for Peace and aspects of PESCO.
SMEs in Ireland are defined as enterprises with fewer than 250 persons engaged. SMEs are further split into micro-enterprises with fewer than ten persons employed, other small enterprises with between 10 and 49 persons and medium-sized enterprises with between 50 and 249 persons.
99.8% of all enterprises in Ireland stand within the SME bracket. Thus, SMEs are particularly important for Ireland’s labour market. They account for 70.1% of total employment in the ‘non-financial business economy’, exceeding the EU average of 66.6%.
In contrast, the contribution of SMEs to total value added is only 41.5%, 15 percentage points below the EU average. This reflects the more significant role large firms play in Ireland in generating value added. The number of people employed by Irish SMEs corresponds precisely to the EU average of 3.9.
SME productivity, measured as value added per person employed, averages €88,900. This is approximately double the EU average, mainly thanks to the widespread presence of foreign firms, which have, on average, higher productivity (in 2016, double compared to Irish-owned companies, if all companies are considered) and, among SMEs, specifically influence micro firm productivity.
SMEs have also displayed a strong e-commerce performance in the last few years, according to The Digital Economy and Society Index by the European Commission – 32% of SMEs sell online, and 18% sell across borders, well above the EU averages of 17% and 8%, respectively.
27% of SME total turnover originates from online sales, more than double the EU average of 12%. Irish companies also rank high in the use of social media (44%), cloud services (41%) and big data (23%).
VAT is charged at different rates for various goods and services, e.g.:
- 23% is the standard rate (all goods and services that do not fall into the reduced rate categories are charged at this rate)
- 13.5% is a reduced rate for items including coal, heating oil, vet fees, building and building services, agricultural contracting services, short-term car hire, and cleaning and maintenance services.
- 9% is a second reduced rate. Gas and electricity were reduced to this rate from 1 May 2022 for a period that has been extended to 28 February 2023 by Budget 2023. The VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sector also decreased from 13.5% to 9%, from 1 November 2020 to 28 February 2023.
- 4.8% reduced rate applies to livestock (excluding chickens), greyhounds and the hire of horses.
- 0% for all exports, tea, coffee, milk, bread, books, children’s clothes and shoes, vegetable seeds and fruit trees, fertilisers, large animal feed, oral medicine for humans and animals, disability aids, and newspapers.
- For natural persons: TIN is the Personal Public Service Number (PPS).
- For companies: TIN is the Tax Reference Number (TRN).
Main Customers: the USA (32%), the UK (11%), Germany (11%), Belgium (8%), and China (7%).
Main Suppliers: the UK (19%), the USA (17%), France (10%), China (8%), and Germany (7%).
Hiring Staff
in Ireland
The economy of the Republic of Ireland is a highly developed knowledge economy focused on services in high-tech, life sciences, financial services, and agribusiness, including agri-food. Ireland is an open economy (5th on the Index of Economic Freedom) and ranks first for high-value foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. In the global GDP per capita tables, Ireland ranks 4th of 186 in the IMF table and 4th of 187 in the World Bank ranking.
Foreign-owned multinationals continue to contribute significantly to Ireland’s economy, making up 14 of the top 20 Irish firms (by turnover), employing 23% of the private sector labour force and paying 80% of the collected corporation tax.
As of mid-2019, economic growth in Ireland was predicted to decline, especially in the event of a disorderly Brexit.
One of Europe’s major financial hubs is centred on Dublin. Ireland ranks among the top ten wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita. However, this has been partly ascribed to distortions caused by the tax inversion practices of various multinationals operating in Ireland. In 2017, the Central Bank of Ireland enacted a modified gross national income (GNI*) as the standard deviation was considered too materially distorted to measure or represented the Irish economy accurately.
After joining the EC (the European Communities, the predecessor of the European Union), the country’s government enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in economic growth between 1995 and 2007, now known as the Celtic Tiger period, before its subsequent reversal during the Great Recession.
Ireland’s quality of life is ranked among the highest in the world. The country performs well in several national performance metrics, including healthcare, economic freedom, and freedom of the press. Ireland is a member of the European Union and a founding member of the Council of Europe and the OECD. The Irish government has followed a policy of military neutrality through non-alignment since immediately before World War II, and the country is consequently not a member of NATO. However, it is a member of the Partnership for Peace and aspects of PESCO.
SMEs in Ireland are defined as enterprises with fewer than 250 persons engaged. SMEs are further split into micro-enterprises with fewer than ten persons employed, other small enterprises with between 10 and 49 persons and medium-sized enterprises with between 50 and 249 persons.
99.8% of all enterprises in Ireland stand within the SME bracket. Thus, SMEs are particularly important for Ireland’s labour market. They account for 70.1% of total employment in the ‘non-financial business economy’, exceeding the EU average of 66.6%.
In contrast, the contribution of SMEs to total value added is only 41.5%, 15 percentage points below the EU average. This reflects the more significant role large firms play in Ireland in generating value added. The number of people employed by Irish SMEs corresponds precisely to the EU average of 3.9.
SME productivity, measured as value added per person employed, averages €88,900. This is approximately double the EU average, mainly thanks to the widespread presence of foreign firms, which have, on average, higher productivity (in 2016, double compared to Irish-owned companies, if all companies are considered) and, among SMEs, specifically influence micro firm productivity.
SMEs have also displayed a strong e-commerce performance in the last few years, according to The Digital Economy and Society Index by the European Commission – 32% of SMEs sell online, and 18% sell across borders, well above the EU averages of 17% and 8%, respectively.
27% of SME total turnover originates from online sales, more than double the EU average of 12%. Irish companies also rank high in the use of social media (44%), cloud services (41%) and big data (23%).
VAT is charged at different rates for various goods and services, e.g.:
- 23% is the standard rate (all goods and services that do not fall into the reduced rate categories are charged at this rate)
- 13.5% is a reduced rate for items including coal, heating oil, vet fees, building and building services, agricultural contracting services, short-term car hire, and cleaning and maintenance services.
- 9% is a second reduced rate. Gas and electricity were reduced to this rate from 1 May 2022 for a period that has been extended to 28 February 2023 by Budget 2023. The VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sector also decreased from 13.5% to 9%, from 1 November 2020 to 28 February 2023.
- 4.8% reduced rate applies to livestock (excluding chickens), greyhounds and the hire of horses.
- 0% for all exports, tea, coffee, milk, bread, books, children’s clothes and shoes, vegetable seeds and fruit trees, fertilisers, large animal feed, oral medicine for humans and animals, disability aids, and newspapers.
- For natural persons: TIN is the Personal Public Service Number (PPS).
- For companies: TIN is the Tax Reference Number (TRN).
Main Customers: the USA (32%), the UK (11%), Germany (11%), Belgium (8%), and China (7%).
Main Suppliers: the UK (19%), the USA (17%), France (10%), China (8%), and Germany (7%).
The Main Sectors of the Irish Economy
Ireland focuses on the following key sectors, which all have a significant impact on the country’s economy:
The Main Sectors of the Irish Economy
Ireland focuses on the following key sectors, which all have a significant impact on the country’s economy:
Commercial Laws
in Ireland
Commercial Laws
in Ireland
