Ireland sends a message about strengthening trade ties with Canada

Close to 200 travel trade types, business leaders and government officials were gathered for an early morning breakfast event at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal Hotel yesterday (Nov. 17) to hear Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Tourism & Employment, Peter Burke speak about the many opportunities there are to grow the trade relationship between Canada and Ireland.

Sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Tourism Ireland, the theme of the morning event was Beyond Barrier: Deepening Canada-Ireland Trade and Investment.

Tourism Ireland’s Canada country manager, Sandra Moffatt applauded the strong turnout by business and community leaders and congratulated two Irish companies that recently expanded into Canada – luxury travel specialist Sheenco Travel and Hi Tech Health.

Building on the event’s theme, Moffatt told her audience that the gathering was about “continuing to build those connections and that relationship between Ireland and Canada.”

In leading up to his introduction of Minister Burke, Ireland’s Ambassador to Canada, John Concannon told the gathering that there is “huge momentum” in the relationship between the two countries; pointing out that “there’s an appetite for deepening” the trade relationship between Canada and Ireland.

Minister Burke began his remarks by pointing out that Sheenco Travel and Hi Tech Health were the 37th and 38th Irish businesses to set up operations in Canada in 2025 — using their example to help deliver his message about the opportunities that exist to expand the burgeoning trade relationship that has been growing between Canada and Ireland by leaps and bounds.

And Ireland’s Minister for Enterprise, Tourism & Employment came well-equipped to talk about those opportunities following the recent release of a comprehensive economic report launched by the Irish government and researched by the Conference Board of Canada.

That report – Beyond Barriers: Deepening Canada-Ireland Trade and Investment – found that trade between Canada and Ireland has nearly doubled since the introduction of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in 2017.

Tourism certainly has Minister Burke’s attention as he pointed out that currently the industry accounts for some 300,000 jobs and that there has been significant growth in visitations from the Canadian market as the authentic and genuine character of Ireland’s tourism product has a growing appeal in this market.

Earlier this year, tourism was added to Burke’s portfolio and the Minister described tourism’s addition as an “exciting opportunity and shared with his audience that Ireland will be launching a new tourism policy shortly.

Minister Burke also talked about the shared values that have created a strong link between Ireland and Canada – something that’s important in today’s world — and noted, in this respect, that  4.4 million Canadians are of Irish ancestry – another point of connection.

For more, go to https://www.ireland.ie/en/canada/beyond-barriers-deepening-canada-ireland-trade-investment/