Adrian Weckler: 71pc of VC cash this year has gone into AI – so does Ireland Inc really intend sitting this one out?
US Big Tech are the only ones allowed create AI services – which the EU then ends up using anyway
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The economics of AI are like nothing the world has ever seen before.
Forget tulip mania, the South Sea bubble, Icelandic banks, the Celtic Tiger – even the dot.com bubble. This supersedes them all.
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Irish Examiner
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Port of Cork set to open €100m deepwater berth dedicated to offshore energy development
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Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Ireland's goods exports to Canada fall by more than 50%
At the EU-Canada summit in Brussels last week, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, anxious to offset the loss in trade with the US following the bruising exchanges with president Donald Trump in recent months, seized the opportunity to push to enhance the current strategic trade partnership with the EU. Under the current Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Ireland has gained enormously since its initial signing in 2017. Ireland's exports to Canada rose from €1.7bn in 2017 to €5.2bn in 2024. But the market has crashed in the current year, with Irish goods exports to Canada reduced by over 50% in the first four months of this year, which are now forecast to be €2.2bn for 2025 — a heavy loss of €3bn on the prior year. Much of the lost sales were in the pharmaceutical and medical devices sector, which were affected by companies in the sector in Ireland prioritising shipments to the US to get ahead of expected tariffs in April. Also affecting the market was a fall-off in demand from Canadian companies due to lost sales into their main market in the US as the tariff war increased in the early months of the year. This 54% reduction in Irish exports to the Canadian market was not reflected in Ireland's exports to its other markets in the US or the EU, which showed an increase. This is a worrying development for Ireland's goods exporters to Canada. Boost for services However, there are potential gains to be had in the market for services, if the plan to negotiate a digital tech agreement proceeds, which both parties agree would 'enhance cooperation on AI innovation, including collaboration on AI factories, to link our high-performance computing infrastructure and to deepen research cooperation in strategic technology areas such as AI and quantum'. Many Canadian firms that have set up in Ireland come from sectors such as financial services, information technology, and industrial tech. This has boosted Ireland's services exports to close to €5bn, based on the latest estimates from Canadian government statistics. Eight of the top 10 Canadian companies have a presence in Ireland. Four of the top six Canadian banks have operations in Ireland, as do four of the five leading Canadian software companies. Top Canadian insurance companies in IDA's portfolio include Sun Life, which celebrated 25 years in Waterford in 2023, Fairfax, and Canada Life, the parent company of Irish Life. Other familiar names include Scotiabank, National Bank of Canada, TD Global Finance, Bank of Montreal Europe, Brookfield Renewable, Celestica, Greenfield Global, OpenText, Constellation Software, Couche Tard, and Descartes. The services industry exporters are likely to be the big gainers from future trade development with Canada but it awaits the full implementation of the CETA agreement, which has been blocked by Sinn Féin over investor protection clauses that are to be given to Canadian investors in Ireland. However, minister of state for international development Neale Richmond, answering questions in the Dáil, said the Government would move to fully ratify the CETA trade deal, which includes the investor protection clauses, in the coming weeks, despite the misgivings of Sinn Féin. Security and defence The EU had other issues to tackle and were anxious to secure a security and defence agreement with Canada, responding to the political and commercial shock created by their main partner, the US, in threatening to pull out of Nato and demanding a minimum defence expenditure of 5% of GDP by EU member states. 'The partnership will launch work towards a bilateral agreement related to the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) instrument and give access to a €150bn loan mechanism dedicated to joint defence procurement and explore the possibility of establishing an administrative arrangement between Canada and the European Defence Agency,' a joint statement said. The document made specific mention of enhanced coordinated naval activities as a key priority as well as boosting industrial cooperation, which will benefit Ireland as it pursues the expansion of its naval fleet. The statement on security and defence issued as the summit concluded is seen as a key step in a new EU-Canada strategic partnership of the future. For EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, there was the added benefit that the deal would aid Europe with one of its greatest needs: critical raw materials that the EU lacks. Read More New markets elude Ireland and EU as reliance on agriculture stalls deals
The Journal
13 hours ago
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'We need an agreement': Tánaiste Harris calls on EU to reach tariff deal with US
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