The Republic has become the 10th largest provider of foreign direct investment in the US, writes John Collinsin Boston

This week's Enterprise Ireland trade visit to the east coast of the US, led by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, underlined the fact that Ireland Inc no longer comes to the US with cap in hand seeking inward investment.

The €55 million worth of contracts that Enterprise Ireland client companies have won from US firms, and which were announced during the five-day visit, are just one indicator of the changing economic relationship between the two countries.

According to Robert McLaughlin, a senior adviser in the US department of commerce, US firms invested a cumulative total of $84 billion in the Republic to the end of 2006, while Irish firms have sent $28.55 billion the other way. That makes the Republic the 10th largest provider of foreign direct investment in the US (the UK tops the table).

In his addresses to audiences in Washington DC, New York and Boston this week, the Minister noted that there were 200 Irish businesses operating in the US from more than 1,300 office locations in all 50 states, employing 80,000 Americans. Also, 24 new US offices have been opened by Irish firms in the year to date.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Irish exports to the US last year amounted to €16.2 billion, compared to US imports of €6.7 billion.

This week's trade trip highlighted the business being done beyond the better-known Irish players in the US such as Glanbia, CRH, and IAWS, with participating companies spanning sectors such as pharmaceutical, software, energy, construction and healthcare.

The highest-value deal of the week involved an Irish company investing in its US operations. NTR-controlled Airtricity underlined its intention to become a major player in the US renewable energy market by signing a deal at the Irish Embassy in Washington to acquire $330 million (€231.6 million) of wind turbines from GE Energy.

A notable trend during the week was that a significant number of the deals and partnerships were with multinationals who are already significant employers in Ireland, such as Citibank and Nortel.

As the mission drew to a close, Mr Martin said his department and Enterprise Ireland needed to examine how multinationals with a base in the Republic could be used to benefit indigenous businesses.

"We need a fresh look at how we can leverage the strong multinational presence for the benefit of local companies," he said.

He said that simply merging IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, as had been suggested in a report by the Enterprise Strategy Group, would not be enough to achieve that.

Enterprise Ireland, which is keen to encourage Irish firms to make acquisitions in the US market, held a lunch in Boston yesterday to highlight the available opportunities.

A technology fundraising event was also held in New York, where five Irish firms pitched their companies to local venture capitalists. This event was addressed by Kara Nortman, the executive in charge of mergers and acquisitions with US internet group IAC/InterActiveCorp.

"[ Some American executives] told me they are seeing a greater maturity in Irish companies," said Mr Martin.

"I think it's reasonable to believe a number of them will be on the acquisition trail here soon."

The trip also saw the formal establishment of two advisory groups for financial services and life sciences. Comprising senior US executives, they are designed to advise Enterprise Ireland and its client companies on how to operate in the US most effectively.

Mr Martin said the message from these groups was that an "ecosystem" of investors and advisers needed to be in place if successful clusters of companies, like the medical device firms based around Boston, were to be created in the Republic.

"We need to do more to create a community of professionals in Ireland to bring new companies through," he said.

In particular, he added, it was apparent that US venture capitalists do more than just fund companies; they are also important strategic advisers.

"We now have to consider how we can attract them over to invest in Irish companies," said Mr Martin.

Casting a shadow over this week's events was the dollar's record weakness against the euro, which presents significant challenges for the Irish doing business across the Atlantic.

Bigger players such as Airtricity have established US subsidiaries, giving them leeway to reinvest dollar revenues rather than repatriate them.

Smaller firms such as Wicklow's Phoneware, which this week revealed it had won a $500,000 deal with the federal government, do not have that luxury.

Phoneware managing director Philip Maguire said he received bad financial advice two years ago that the company should consider currency hedging in relation to the dollar.

"If we had done that at the time we would have gone bust by now," said Mr Maguire.