Mark Christal head of food and sustainability at Enterprise Ireland said almost 70% of exports from Enterprise Ireland food businesses goes into the UK market which remains “hugely important” for the Irish food and drink sector despite Brexit controls.

However, Mr Christal said businesses are preparing themselves to expand “beyond to UK." He added that some of these food and drink businesses have expanded further into European markets amid Brexit challenges and continue to eye up opportunities in Asia and the US.

Figures from Enterprise Ireland showed 123 food and drink companies spent €100,000 or more on research and development activities in 2023.

“Increased investment in research and innovation by these companies is vital to strengthen productivity, improve both sales and margins, and accelerate the scaling journey,” said Enterprise Ireland chairman Michael Carey.

The figures were released at the State-body’s Food Innovation Summit in Croke Park where it also said it has directly invested €10m into food and beverage start-ups that show high potential over the last decade.

“Innovation is essential to maintaining our competitive edge, and the Government is committed to supporting the sector to increase investment in innovation, digitalisation and sustainability so these food and drink businesses can continue to compete and win in global markets,” said Enterprise Minister Peter Burke.

Separate figures released by Bord Bia earlier this year showed the value of Ireland’s food, drink and horticulture exports reached €16bn last year.

The annual report found exports were impacted by inflation and a cost-of-living crisis which continued to affect consumer spending last year, in addition to significant downward pressure on trade prices.

The overall value of Irish exports declined by 4% compared to the previous year, when exports grew by a record breaking 22%. The value of exports however was 24% higher than pre-pandemic and pre-inflation levels recorded in 2019.