Large enterprises (with over 250 employees) made up €162bn (63%) of total service exports (€256bn) in 2020 while the five largest exporting enterprises accounted for €125bn (49%) of the total.
Large enterprises made up €220bn (67%) of total service imports (€328bn) in 2020 while the five largest importers accounted for €158bn (48%) of the total.
The Information & Communication sector was the largest export sector with €146bn (57%) of total service exports.
The Information & Communication sector also represented the largest import sector with €150bn (46%) of total service imports.
Foreign controlled enterprises dominated both service exports and imports in 2020, exporting €215bn (84%) and importing €292bn (89%) of total services. The remaining €41bn (16%) of service exports and €36bn (11%) of service imports were provided by domestic enterprises.
All transport and travel services were provided by domestic enterprises in 2020.
All computer services exports were provided by foreign enterprises in 2020.
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 2020.
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 | 256.158349 | 328.070624 |
| Large >250 | 162.415685 | 219.644298 |
| Medium 50-249 | 20.854162 | 18.660188 |
| Small 0-49 | 46.734954 | 33.970855 |
| Unknown | 26.153548 | 55.795283 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (19 October 2023) released the Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics 2020. Commenting on the release, Annette Hayes, Statistician in the International Accounts Division said: “Foreign controlled enterprises continued to dominate Ireland’s services trade, exporting €215bn (84%) and importing €292bn (89%) of total services in 2020.
Domestic enterprises provided the remaining €41bn (16%) of service exports and €36bn (11%) of service imports.
Large enterprise made up 63% of service exports and 67% of service imports. The five largest exporting enterprises accounted for €125bn (49%) of all services exports, while €158bn (48%) of all services imports were linked to the five largest importing enterprises. The Information & Communication sector represented both the largest export sector, exporting €146bn (57%) and the largest import sector, importing €150bn (46%) of total service imports".