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Foreign controlled enterprises dominated both service exports and imports in 2023, exporting €326bn (82%) and importing €323bn (83%) of total services. The remaining €73bn (17%) of service exports and €64bn (17%) of service imports were provided by domestic enterprises.
Large enterprises (with over 250 employees) made up €262bn (66%) of total service exports (€399bn) in 2023 while the five largest exporting enterprises accounted for €211bn (53%) of the total.
Large enterprises made up €264bn (68%) of total service imports (€387bn) in 2023 while the five largest importers accounted for €192bn (50%) of the total.
The Information & Communication sector was the largest export sector with €231bn (58%) of total service exports.
The Information & Communication sector also represented the largest import sector with €170bn (44%) of total service imports.
All transport and travel services were provided by domestic enterprises in 2023.
All computer services exports, with a value of €228 billion, were provided by foreign enterprises in 2023.
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 2023.
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 international Accounts 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 | 399.014203 | 387.296363 |
| Large | 262.149286 | 263.626113 |
| Medium | 21.43024 | 26.262768 |
| Small | 75.514009 | 62.204425 |
| Unknown | 39.920668 | 35.203057 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 September 2025) released the Services Trade by Enterprise Characteristics 2023.
Commenting on the release, Ciarán Counihan, Statistician in the International Accounts Division said: “Foreign controlled enterprises continued to dominate Ireland’s services trade, exporting €326bn (82%) and importing €323bn (83%) of total services in 2023. Domestic enterprises provided the remaining €73bn (18%) of service exports and €64bn (17%) of service imports.
Large enterprise made up two-thirds of service exports and 68% of service imports. The five largest exporting enterprises accounted for €211bn (53%) of all services exports, while €192bn (50%) of all service imports were linked to the five largest importing enterprises.
The Information & Communication sector represented both the largest export sector, exporting €231bn (58%) and the largest import sector, importing €170bn (44%) of total service imports”.