Positive growth for the Irish tech sector

Irish technology leaders confident of growth

Home to over 1,700 technology companies and the European base for the world’s technology giants, Ireland is undoubtedly a leading global technology hub.

Temperature checking the sector, we surveyed over 100 leaders of Irish technology businesses in summer 2025*. Building on RSM UK annual research, we gathered insight on the opportunities and challenges they have faced this year and their focuses for the year ahead.

Despite some headwinds in global trading conditions driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, the technology sector and Irish economy more broadly entered 2025 in a strong position. And it’s stayed resilient. The Irish government remains pro-technology, pro-foreign investment and pro-growth. As the new US President has made waves with his economic policies, sentiment between Ireland and the US continues to be strong.

We saw these positive conditions reflected in our respondents’ optimism, with 93% confident of growing under the current government. Yet challenges and risks persist, particularly in infrastructure, regulation and recruitment.

Infrastructure issues risk impeding future growth

Though confident, perhaps the key finding of our survey was that technology businesses have concerns about Ireland’s infrastructure as the country tries to match its historic technology success in the current AI boom.

Ireland’s much-publicised housing crisis has become a notable challenge for technology companies looking to attract and retain top talent. Limited housing availability and high costs makes it difficult for businesses to scale up and impedes their growth ambitions. Rising costs can also be a substantial obstacle for startups.

In our survey, improving housing availability was the main factor affecting confidence (42%) that businesses want action on.

In the age of mass AI adoption, data centres are the backbone of the digital economy. Dublin is already one of the most data-centre-dense regions in Europe. However, Ireland's planning system has been criticised for being slow moving, adding significant obstacles and increased costs for developers.

Over a quarter of respondents (26%) want the government to address planning rules to make it easier to construct the data centres, labs, etc needed for the next stage of growth. Businesses also believe investment in infrastructure to support technology is important to Ireland achieving its aim of being a global leader in AI.

Of course, Ireland’s already significant number of data centres – as well as the many more to come – require a monumental amount of energy. In 2023, they accounted for 21% of the country’s electricity consumption. Almost a fifth of respondents highlighted the need for other capital investments particularly around energy infrastructure (19%).

In line with these responses, infrastructure investment was a focus of the government’s recent Budget 2026. The budget has mapped out significant capital investment and changes to the planning system for housing, while an updated National Development Plan has committed substantial investment to support the energy, water, housing and transport sectors. Its Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity also includes measures specifically related to boosting AI and digital adoption.

EU compliance impacting technology businesses

In his 2024 report on EU competitiveness, Mario Draghi – former European Central Bank President – said, “innovative companies that want to scale up in Europe are hindered at every stage by inconsistent and restrictive regulations.”

We asked technology leaders if the demands of complying with EU regulation, including the AI act, are restricting growth and innovation in Irish technology. The response was unanimous: 95% agreed that they are, with almost half (47%) strongly agreeing.

Almost a quarter of respondents (24%) also thought the government should focus on ensuring that EU support is maximised and strategically leveraged.

In response to the Draghi report, in January 2025 the EU launched the competitiveness compass, a new roadmap to restore Europe’s dynamism, including plans to boost innovation. While we wait to see how that journey might unfold, RSM would welcome more support from the Irish government for technology businesses as they navigate the complexity. Having to dedicate significant resources to complying with regulation is a hurdle that can seriously hinder innovation and growth.

In summary

Our survey found that Irish technology businesses are confident in the future of their industry but there’s lots of work for the government to do to support the sector and maximise the opportunity of AI. Businesses believe investment in infrastructure and help in managing the regulatory burden are both critical to future success.

As the most recent chance to address these concerns, the new budget does not have enough meaningful measures to boost entrepreneurship and job creation.

We’ll share more results from our survey and what we think businesses, the industry and the government can learn from them in a second article.