Tension runs through the KPMG CEO Outlook 2025, which captures the views of more than 1,300 chief executives worldwide, including leaders across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The picture is of executives optimistic about their own growth prospects but increasingly wary of global disruption and domestic capacity limits.
Business leaders are steering their organisations through a world defined by uncertainty, technological acceleration, and heightened expectations from stakeholders. The challenges are significant – geopolitical shifts, regulatory complexity, cyber and climate risk. So too are the opportunities to innovate, to lead with purpose, and to create lasting value.
According to Ryan McCarthy, managing partner of KPMG in Ireland, “Areas such as technology and AI, energy, and life sciences are amongst those where profound change is already underway, and with long term societal and economic impacts, and significant business implications.”
Cautious optimism
Against such a backdrop, the good news is that 83 per cent of Irish chief executives expect their companies to expand over the next three years, while 94 per cent plan to grow headcount. That confidence is striking given persistent cost pressures, trade friction and geopolitical tension. Yet optimism in the broader economy has softened since 2024 — evidence that resilience is intact, but realism has crept in. This reflects a challenging environment for many Irish consumers. Faced with stubborn inflation in areas such as food and the potential for dampening of consumer sentiment, chief executives in many sectors will be sense checking the implications.
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For Ireland, much of the challenge continues to relate to infrastructure and the ability to deliver projects effectively.As our research indicates, chief executives are typically more positive about their own organisation than they are about the wider economy. However, we know from conversations with chief executives that despite measured optimism, economic concerns remain. These are particularly related to the need for faster delivery on housing, water, energy, and transport. As a guide, our recent Dublin 2040 research highlights a wide range of pragmatic policy suggestions that can help make a significant difference to infrastructure delivery - not just in the capital, but nationwide.
The leadership imperative
Our research also highlights the challenge of leadership. More than three-quarters (77 per cent) of chief executives in the Republic say they feel under more pressure to deliver than ever before. In making decisions, business leaders instinctively know that the best insights are those that are actionable – grounded in data, sharpened by experience, and relevant to the challenges leaders face today. These include how to prioritise risks when everything feels urgent, how to harness the transformative potential of AI while preparing people and safeguarding trust, and how to embed sustainability in a way that secures low-carbon energy security.
By definition, chief executives are having to deal with issues that they may not have grown up with or have no direct professional experience of. As a consequence, there is a strong awareness that skills such digital and technological literacy are now regarded as essential leadership traits.
Shifting risks
Unsurprisingly, risk remains the one constant in business leadership. What has shifted in 2025 is the degree of interconnection between risks – and the speed with which one can trigger another. According to our survey, chief executives are most attuned to AI workforce readiness, cybercrime, and inflationary pressures as the trends shaping their organisations’ prosperity over the next three years. Risk has also become multi-dimensional. Threats once seen in relative isolation are now increasingly intertwined.
Supply chain risk is in large part a function of geopolitical upheaval. According to Stefano Moritsch, global geopolitics lead, KPMG: “We’re in the middle of a geopolitical recession. Boards are waking up to the reality of geopolitical risk being very high on their agenda and are now working to increase their resilience.” For chief executives that global trend is made concrete through investments in geopolitical monitoring, supply chain continuity, and digital defence.
For Irish chief executives, the single biggest risk to growth is workforce readiness for AI. Many fear automation will move faster than human adaptation. Cybersecurity follows close behind, cited by 83 per cent as a critical concern, while 37 per cent prioritise supply-chain resilience as their top investment. Despite this, growth intent remains robust: 98 per cent of chief executives plan acquisitions within three years, using M&A to build capability and diversify risk.
Other technology-related issues feature prominently. The cost of technology infrastructure is a risk for 69 per cent of chief executives, while cybersecurity is cited by 83 per cent of respondents. These concerns highlight a fundamental paradox: the same digital tools that promise innovation are also perceived as sources of exposure.
The AI skills challenge
If risk defines the environment, innovation defines the response: 63 per cent of Irish chief executives list AI as a top investment priority, broadly aligned with the global figure of 71 per cent — up from 52 per cent last year. Two-thirds expect measurable returns within three years, showing that the adoption curve is steepening. Leaders increasingly view AI as a complement to human capability rather than a substitute: 74 per cent plan to redeploy staff rather than reduce headcount, though 57 per cent say entry-level roles have already evolved because of AI.
As a consequence, the skills race is intensifying: 70 per cent of chief executives globally warn that competition for AI-trained employees could constrain growth. In Ireland’s tight labour market, this has the potential to become a structural challenge.
Sustainability – If not now, when?
For many chief executives, sustainability has become one of the most complex and contested areas of strategy. In principle, the case is clear: it makes business sense, enhances competitiveness, and strengthens both customer and employee advocacy. In practice, however, competing pressures mean that sustainability has slipped down the priority list in some markets. Inflationary pressures, higher interest rates, military conflicts, the redrawing of global supply chains, and divergent regulatory regimes all create headwinds.
Meanwhile the sustainability agenda faces issues specific challenges. Globally, 61 per cent of chief executives are confident of reaching net-zero by 2030, but only 29 per cent of Irish chief executives share that optimism. Highlighting just one of the challenges, 31 per cent of Irish chief executives say they lack internal capability to meet sustainability reporting demands.
KPMG’s findings suggest that Irish chief executives are pragmatic but far from passive. The domestic context is hugely relevant. Ireland’s small, outward-facing economy remains agile, but its delivery capacity in energy, skills and infrastructure will determine how far that agility can stretch.
The winners will be those who turn risk into resilience, innovation into productivity, and sustainability into long-term value. The KPMG CEO Outlook shows leadership that remains optimistic but grounded — investing in people and technology to grow, even as the indicators for 2026 show a world becoming harder to predict. Inevitably chief executive success will depend on sound judgment and trusted advice. Above all, the strongest organisations will be those that continue to put the judgement and leadership of people first – in leading teams, leading on technology and leading on sustainability at a time of profound change.
Read the full report at kpmg.ie/ceooutlook.
