Overall, 63% of small businesses and 51% of mid-sized businesses plan to increase investment in 2025. According to the survey, Irish firms are well ahead of Northern European peers in terms of succession planning, scoring 6.2 out of 10. This is significantly above the 5.2 average across Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK.

Ireland's two major centre-right parties finalised a coalition deal with independent lawmakers on Wednesday that will return Micheal Martin as prime minister and continue the previous government's high spending economic policy.