Irish Business Club Finland (copy) News

Miracle of Irish Economy

Tarja Uitti — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 10:35:51 GMT

Timo Hämäläinen from Sitra has written an excellent report and analysis on Irish economy.

In the past 30 years, Ireland has transformed from a poor agricultural country into a wealthy society where technology and competence are at a high level.

Report has a summary also in English and is definately worth reading.

https://www.sitra.fi/julkaisut/irlannin-talousihme/#heading-ml3lmk75szi

Rise in number of visitors to whiskey distilleries in Ireland

Tarja Uitti — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 18:52:04 GMT

Touring in whiskey distilleries have become very popular. Both Ireland and Northern Ireland is receiving more visitors from different countries than years before. This is a great support also to their travel business in general.

Read an interesting article about this here https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/1113/1543694-whiskey-distilleries/

Fáilte Back - European Job Days

John Horkan — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 05:10:35 GMT

Thinking about returning to Ireland?

Wondering what life and work opportunities await you at home?

Fáilte Back is a free online event designed for Irish citizens abroad and anyone interested in living and working in Ireland. Whether you're planning a move back or just exploring your options, this event offers direct access to employers, relocation advice, and job opportunities across Ireland.

EURES in collaboration with the Crosscare Irish Diaspora Support Project wants you to join us to:

Find out more about living and working in Ireland.
Talk directly to employers about employment opportunities in Ireland.
Get Informed – Hear relocation information and get individual advice from experts.

Register now to attend Fáilte Back from anywhere in the world and discover the opportunities waiting for you. Let Ireland welcome you home.

New Sponsor company

Tarja Uitti — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 14:22:29 GMT

We are happy to introduce our new sponsor company Privaone.

Privaon helps Data Protection Officers succeed in their roles and support organizations with privacy-related matters, globally. Our core services include Data Protection Officer as a Service (DPOaaS), the DPO365 software for planning, managing, reporting and demonstrating compliance with data protection requirements, and our privacy training program, DPO Academy.

http://privaon.com/

Summer Happenings

John Horkan — Mon, 19 May 2025 18:54:31 GMT

Even though our IBC events will have a summer break, there are several Irish-related happenings taking place also during summer...

June

From the 8^th onward Katie Holten, an Irish artist and environmental activist, is present in Helsinki Biennaali.
On the 13^th Irish Embassy: Bloomsday & Beyond – Celebrating Ireland the Island of Writers
From the 15^th onward artist Claire Hurley will exhibit at ONOMA summer exhibition 2025 - UTOPIA | Fiskars Village
On the 16^th the Finnish Irish Society will celebrate Bloomsday with some great poet lyricists in Thirsty Scholar Pub, Helsinki University, Fabianinkatu 37

July

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

August

On the 8^th Friends of Irish Whiskey together with IBC will open autumn season
On the 23^rd Harps GAA will host the Nordic Gaelic Football GAA Tournament in Käpylä

September

Summer but a memory by then but dates to remember are 24^th-28^th when The Irish Festival of Oulu is in full swing

Annual General meeting

Tarja Uitti — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 12:38:33 GMT

IBC annual general meeting took place on the 4th of March. The following persons were elected as board members:

Kevin Deegan, John Horkan, Heikki Mairinoja, Kristo Mikkonen, Matti Räty (treasurer), Norma Salmivuori, Kirsi Swanljung von Wehrt, Tarja Uitti (Chairperson) and Erkki Yrjölä (Deputy Chairman).

New Ambassador

Tarja Uitti — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 13:23:59 GMT

IBC has a close collaboration with the Embassy of Ireland in Helsinki. We are happy to welcome the new Ambassador of Ireland, Mr Paul Sherlock and his family to Finland. We have already met him in few occasions and can clearly see that our collaboration will flourish also in the future.

Also the new Deputy Head of Mission, Ms Lauren McLaughlin has started in the Embassy. We are looking forward to work with Lauren to increase the interest and understanding of Ireland and Finland within business world.

Finnish and Irish economy

Tarja Uitti — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 13:32:09 GMT

We had a great pleasure to hear Senior Economist Harri Pönkä from the Bank of Finland. He gave us very broad understanding on the differencies of two quite similar size economies Ireland and Finland. However, two countries differ quite a lot in demography as well as in GDP. This topic is particularly interesting now that Ireland is one of the fastest growing economies within EU while Finland is suffering of zero growth.

Ireland clearly benefits on close trans-Atlantic relations as well as the language and low corporate tax but there is much more in this. Their government has taken some rather drastic steps to tackle the financial crisis few years ago. They also clearly identified few industries of future potential - call and data centers of big ICT companies as well as the pharmaceutical industry. These industries has been supported and they have brought lot of companies and talented personnel into the country. At the same time Finland has tried to support many different industries and thus the support has probably split into too small "rivers". Finland is highly dependent on innovation and exports and would need more skills and investments on this.

More details can be found in Harri Pönkä's presentation by request to tarjah.uitti@gmail.com

Planning to visit Ireland?

Tarja Uitti — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 13:17:32 GMT

Ireland - the green island, is a great place to visit. Check what there is to see and know about Ireland. https://www.nordicvisitor.com/blog/cool-facts-ireland-known-for/

New Board of IBC

Tarja Uitti — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:13:14 GMT

Irish Business Club's Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday the 7th of March 2024.

The meeting elected nine members of Board; Kevin Deegan, John Horkan, Heikki Mairinoja, Matti Räty, Norma Salmivuori, Tarja Uitti and Erkki Yrjölä from previous board and two new members Kirsi Swanljung von Wehrt and Ari Lahti. Tarja Uitti was elected as a Chairman and Erkki Yrjölä as Deputy Chairman for calendar year 2024.

Seminar - Diversity and Inclusive work practices

Tarja Uitti — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 09:31:24 GMT

The seminar on Diversity and Inclusive work practices was held at Hotel U14 on January 24th. The event was organized in collaboration with Embassy of Ireland in Helsinki and Enterprise Ireland Nordics.

We had a great group of panelists and we wish to thank Sandra Healy, Siobhán McKenna, Mikko Räsänen, Elin Eklöf and John Nylund for their valuable insights on preparing for the workforce of today and tomorrow. There was also very active audience who presented numerous questions highlighting the importance of this topic.

IBC will continue to support the diversity and adaptation in work places by offering networking and discussion opportunities to our members.

Key takeaways summarized well by Embassy:

- Workplace expectations are changing, employees increasingly choose to work for employers whose values better match their own.

- Ensuring diversity means hiring best talent, their skillsets and their potential

- Migration has always happened and it will increase due to climate change - smart businesses will be those who are proactive in capturing the opportunities.

- Ireland and Finland can share experiences as countries with long histories of outward migration, but comparatively recent experiences of inward migration.

Irish presence in SLUSH

Tarja Uitti — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:28:37 GMT

The group of Irish start-ups and scaling tech companies will be present in the coming SLUSH which takes place November 30th - December 1st.

"Slush is the focal point in the Northern European tech calendar, it is the place start up and scaling technology companies meet with toptier international corporates, influencers, investors and media. The two-day event brings together the leading tech scene in wintery Scandinavia, amidst one of the most dynamic tech ecosystems in the world."

Enterprise Ireland

Did you know?

Tarja Uitti — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 15:10:51 GMT

Irish Business Club has bought in 1990 a facsimile copy of Book of Kells and donated it to National Library in Helsinki. Usually this great historical book is seen only at the Library of Trinity College in Dublin in the glass box and you cannot touch the book.

The physical book was show cased recently in the connection of the opening of the exhibition "Ireland and the Birth of Europe" . The book is not available for public every day but can be pre-ordered to be seen by anyone. It has been of great benefit for the researchers of history of Europe.

JAN 2023 - SEMINAR ON CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN HELSINKI TOGETHER WITH IRISH EMBASSY

John Horkan — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 10:58:33 GMT

On January 12th a seminar on Circular Economy was organized at U14 Hotel together with the Embassy of Ireland. The occasion was honored by Minister of State of Ireland with responsibility for the Circular Economy, Mr Ossian Smyth T.D. The panel consisted on four speakers; Kari Herlevi, Project Director at Sitra, Enni Karikoski, Founder and CEO of Niimaar, Dr Sarah Miller, Chief Executive of The Rediscovery Centre Dublin and Mari Saario, Director of Sustainability at Sulapac. The discussion was moderated by Ken Dooley, Professor of Practice from Aalto University.

JUNE 2021 THE LAUNCH OF "GLOBAL IRELAND - A STRATEGY FOR THE NORDIC REGION"

John Horkan — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 09:57:45 GMT

On June 2nd the Irish Government launched the first ever Nordic Strategy which covers different areas of focus for coming years. The virtual launch was presented by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden together with Icelandic Permanent State Secretary. This was followed a panel discussion on the economic aspects of the Nordic Strategy. Topic was discussed by Hannah Fraser, Enterprise Ireland, Kevin O Donovan from Statkraft and Alan O'Kelly from Premium Power.

NOV 2020 – NEW AMBASSADOR OF IRELAND, H.E. MRS RUTH PARKIN

John Horkan — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 10:57:09 GMT

At the end of the summer we had the great pleasure to welcome the new Ambassador of Ireland, H.E. Mrs Ruth Parkin to Helsinki. The Irish Business Club is now invited to meet with the Ambassador via a virtual breakfast meeting on Tuesday 1st of December. Meeting details have been shared via email to all members.

OCT 2019 – 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF IBC

John Horkan — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 09:56:14 GMT

We celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Irish Business Club with 52 members and guests on the 3rd of October 2019. The event began at the National Library with an insightful and wonderfully entertaining talk on the Book of Kells by Dr Jaakko Tahkokallio, after which we had the opportunity to examine the facsimile of the medieval manuscript purchased and donated to the libary by the IBC back in 1990.

After the enlightening session on the Book of Kells, the festivities continued at the Irish Embassy Residence, where we had the pleasure to hear from our esteemed guests from Ireland, Chargë d’Affaires Eddie Brannigan and Ambassador Daithí Ó Ceallaigh, who spoke warmly about Finnish-Irish relations and also touched on the impending decision on Brexit.

As guests mingled and enjoyed refreshments, the celebrations were also joined by former president Tarja Halonen, an avid supporter of the club over the years.

Warm thanks for a successful evening go to all those who helped organise the event – and of course to all our members and guests who attended the shindig. Here’s to the next thirty years, slàinte!

NOV 2017 – SHAMROCK AWARD RECOGNITION GIVEN TO HONORARY CONSUL OF IRELAND ERKKI YRJÖLÄ

John Horkan — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 10:53:57 GMT

Irish Business Club (IBC) has given the Shamrock Award on the 9th of November 2017 to the Honorary Consul Mr Erkki Yrjölä for his active role and achievements in developing the business relations between Ireland and Finland for more than 30 years.

Shamrock Award is given to the persons who have influenced the Irish-Finnish business society in an exceptional way. This award has been given earlier to:

Tom Eklund 2008 Chairman of Finnish Business Club in Dublin

Anders Ahlqvist 2004 Professor of Old and Middle Irish Celtic Philology

Keijo Suila 2002 CEO Finnair

Harri Holkeri 2000 Northern Ireland peace negotiator

Daithi O’Ceallaigh 1998 The first Ambassador of Ireland in Helsinki

OCT 2017 – NEW AMBASSADOR OF IRELAND H.E. MAEVE COLLINS

John Horkan — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 10:52:36 GMT

The new Ambassador of Ireland H.E. Maeve Collins, successor to Colm O Floinn, has presented his credentials to the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö in October 2017.