Large enterprises (with over 250 employees) made up €140bn (61%) of total service exports (€230bn) in 2019 while the five largest exporting enterprises accounted for €108bn (47%) of the total.
Large enterprises made up €263bn (78%) of total service imports (€336bn) in 2019 while the five largest importers accounted for €148bn (44%) of the total.
The Information & Communication sector was the largest export sector with €121bn (53%) of total service exports.
The Manufacturing sector represented the largest import sector with €152bn (45%) of total service imports.
Foreign controlled enterprises dominated both service exports and imports in 2019, exporting €183bn (80%) and importing €292bn (87%) of total services. The remaining €47bn (20%) of service exports and €44bn (13%) of service imports were provided by domestic enterprises.
All transport and travel services were accounted for by domestic enterprises.
All computer services exports, €119bn in 2019, were provided by foreign controlled enterprises.
This publication examines the characteristics of enterprises in Ireland which contribute to Trade in Services. It explores the size, ownership and economic activity of the enterprises trading in service exports and imports. The Balance of Payments (BOP) enterprise characteristics were supplemented by linking the BOP statistics to the Business statistics using a common enterprise identifier. The data used in this study relate to reference year 2019.
While enterprise characteristics in principle covers all service categories, not all services categories can be broken down by enterprise size due to their specific nature. These limitations concern travel, parts of financial services and government services which are not surveyed by Bop and therefore cannot be attributed to a single enterprise. Similar limitations apply to quarterly services estimates which are not attributed to a single enterprise. These quarterly estimates are included for survey non-coverage and for annual returns (from enterprises with low trade volumes).
| Service Exports | Service Imports | |
| Total | 230.152668 | 335.715981 |
| Large > 250 | 139.813822 | 263.04676 |
| Medium 50-249 | 16.629894 | 15.257998 |
| Small 0-49 | 44.393602 | 32.929822 |
| Unknown | 29.31535 | 24.481401 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 October 2022) released the Services Trade by enterprise characteristics 2019. Commenting on the release, Annette Hayes, Statistician in the International Accounts Division said: “Trade in services records the value of services between residents of a country and non-residents. The release shows that foreign controlled enterprises continued to dominate Ireland’s services trade, exporting €183bn (80%) and importing €292bn (87%) of total services in 2019. Domestic enterprises provided the remaining €47bn (20%) of service exports and €44bn (13%) of service imports.
Large enterprise accounted for 61% of service exports and 78% of service imports. The five largest exporting enterprises accounted for €108bn (47%) of all services exports, while the five largest importing enterprises accounted for €148bn (44%) of all services imports. The Information & Communication sector represented the largest export sector, exporting €121bn (53%) of total service exports while the Manufacturing sector represented the largest import sector, importing €152bn (45%) of total service imports.