Irish exporters are not investing enough money to better protect their businesses in the run-up to Brexit, Enterprise Ireland has warned.

Ireland is now the ninth-largest source of FDI into the US at $146.2bn (€130bn), says the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Glanbia Cheese’s new €130m mozzarella cheese manufacturing facility in Portlaoise, Co Laois, will have a production capacity of 45,000 tons per annum.

New forecasts by the EU project a steep rise in consumer prices in the next year, but wages may yet increase at a faster pace to ensure higher spending power.

Almost two-thirds of businesses have not yet taken steps to prepare for Brexit with lack of information, cost, and language cited as barriers to new markets, an Enterprise Ireland survey has found.

Irish firms looking to expand their horizons after Brexit received a boost with the pledge that the Chinese are ready to do serious business.

The new Brexit strategy unveiled by Enterprise Ireland to assist companies in diversifying into eurozone countries should be replicated by the Government as a matter of national policy to assist small business, according to a lobby group representing SMEs.

Ireland’s EU commissioner Phil Hogan has said Brexit gives Ireland an opportunity to strike out and forge new relationships and that the country should be prepared to cut its ties with Britain.

More than 19,000 jobs were created by businesses supported by Enterprise Ireland last year.

Enterprise Ireland has launched an initiative aimed at broadening Irish companies’ range of export markets ahead of Britain’s formal exit from the EU.

Irish innovators are set to boldly go where few have gone before as growing numbers get a chance to develop technologies bound for space.

A company specialising in providing HR software and technology to its customers globally is to create 300 jobs at existing centres in Cork and Kilkenny.

A company which specialises in helping businesses monitor and manage cleaner and more efficient processing solutions is to create 50 new jobs, almost doubling its workforce, with most of the new employees based at its headquarters in Co Cork.

The value of exports from Enterprise Ireland-supported firms has almost doubled in the past decade having broken through the €20bn mark for the first time last year.

Irish exporters are being urged to keep diversifying their business regardless of the outcome of the EU referendum.

A digital marketing and gaming ‘corridor’ and an export-orientated artisan food ‘cluster’ are among 48 entrepreneurial projects set to benefit from €5m worth of fresh funding for regional job creation from Enterprise Ireland.

The State body charged with fostering indigenous enterprise can boast a record number of people at work in the companies it supports after a bumper 2015.

Some 93% of approximately 200 respondents to a new survey of Irish companies say they intend to expand their businesses over the next year.

Nearly 90% of firms have committed to hiring new staff over the next 12 months, as two thirds of business leaders see their companies growing faster than the Irish economy next year.

The first spirits of the newly- established Boann Distillery in Drogheda which is to create 80 jobs will flow in late 2015 marking the realisation of a €20m investment in the facility.

First International Women’s Business Conference at Rose event

Exporters’ reputation as the economic engine of the country was further cemented yesterday as figures revealed that exports hit record levels in 2014.

Up to €1bn more is likely to be invested this year by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, the State-backed vehicle which has replaced the National Pensions Reserve Fund.

Ireland is unlikely to be the incubation centre that gives birth to the next global consumer-facing tech giant, in the mould of Facebook, Google, or Twitter, but can continue to rival the world’s elite in other areas, according to Enterprise Ireland’s software chief.

Irish companies will benefit from Britain’s continued membership of the EU but it is too early to quantify the scale of the potential losses should it leave, according to the country’s export chief.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton has claimed that Ireland can achieve so-called ‘full employment’ by the end of 2018, about two years ahead of previous Government estimates.

Irish firm Wilson Architecture has won a major design contract in China for over 1 million sq ft of HQ, lab and R&D buildings, as part of an enormous new 8.5 million sq ft bio-pharma campus.

A leading European venture capital firm has joined forces with Enterprise Ireland to launch a new multi-millon euro fund aimed exclusively at the Irish market.

A quarter of chief executives expect GDP growth of at least 4% next year while seven in ten believe it will match or exceed recent predictions of 3%.

One of the country’s leading entrepreneurs has been given the task of making Dublin the best place in Europe to start and grow a tech and innovation business.

Enterprise Ireland has warned about the divergence in size of Irish companies and feels that domestic firms still need to become more competitive.

Export sales generated by Enterprise Ireland client firms hit an all-time high of €17.1bn last year, with the largest net increase in job creation for more than a decade also seen.

In the wake of recent signs that the economy is improving, the news from Enterprise Ireland that client companies saw the best export growth and net job creation last year in over a decade is most encouraging.

A shortage of development capital is hindering the formation of billion dollar indigenous Irish start-ups according to the CEO of Enterprise Ireland.

Enterprise Ireland is to invest €600,000 in 12 female-led businesses, as part of the Government’s bid to boost the number of women entrepreneurs.

Last year saw the highest net employment gain for Enterprise Ireland-client companies for 10 years, although the combined number of job losses also increased by nearly 4,000.