Squarespace, which just announced an expansion in Dublin that will take the company’s Irish headcount to 400 employees, employed the talents of Irish actor Barry Keoghan (of “The Banshees of Inisherin”) and his new beloved donkey Don Mosley in its latest Super Bowl ad that ran in February.
Photo courtesy of Squarespace
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As Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin paid a visit to the White House last week, Ireland IDA Chief Executive Michael Lohan visited by Zoom with Site Selection’s Adam Bruns from a conference room in New York as an Irish delegation spent the week holding a series of meetings and engagements. One catalyst for the occasion was the launch this month of Ireland IDA’s new five-year strategy, which among other goals aims to accomplish the following:
- 1,000 new investments that will “deliver €250 billion to the Irish economy and further embed FDI clients in Ireland”
- The scaling of RD&I (innovation) investment to €7 billion
- Upskilling of 40,000 people within the IDA Ireland client base
- The creation of 75,000 new jobs across priority sectors of growth and opportunity
- The securing of 550 investments into regional locations (i.e. dispersed from Dublin).
Lohan, who lives in a rural town, said he’d likely be spending St. Patrick’s Day returning to his roots, just like the rest of his countrymen and women. “If you went to three local towns,” he said, “you’d probably see the same parade three times.”
As for the parade of tough-talk trade statements and responses involving the United States and longtime trade partners, Lohan said, “Undoubtedly we’ve seen a significant change in tone in international relations … we’re a firm believer in open policies and having free trade flows. Investors need to have a level of certainty. That’s become quite obvious if it wasn’t before.”
Reiterating the longstanding and prosperous connections between the two countries, Lohan said, “Ireland is a gateway for U.S. companies to Europe and the world, and indeed Irish companies are investing in the U.S. We want to make sure U.S. and Irish companies continue to internationalize and grow. The continuation of that is going to be important, notwithstanding its being challenged at the moment. That pragmatic, business approach will be at the center of decision-making. In a trade war, there are no winners. It’s not in Ireland’s interest, Europe’s interest nor the USA’s interest.”
Watch for more insights from the conversation in the May 2025 issue of Site Selection. — Adam Bruns
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