Minister for Trade Promotion Niamh Smyth arrived in Manchester on 16 June 2026 with representatives of 40 high-growth Irish firms spanning construction, clean energy and digital health. The three-day programme signals a deepening of cross-channel business mobility as client exports to the UK hit a record €11.1 billion in 2025, up 10 %. Headline announcements include new Manchester offices for animation studio Kavaleer, recruitment specialist Osborne, consultancy KSNPM and water-tech firm Glanua. Irish contractor Sisk showcased progress on Manchester City FC’s €350 million Etihad Stadium expansion, while Techrete highlighted façade work on Europe’s largest Passivhaus student complex. Enterprise Ireland’s 2026 UK Market Sentiment Survey finds the North of England now accounts for 20 % of Irish companies’ UK footprint, second only to London. Nearly 40 % of respondents plan to boost investment in the region this year, with one-in-five intending new hires. The mission underscores the importance of friction-free mobility for personnel, goods and services across the Irish Sea post-Brexit. Many participating firms rely on short-duration work-permission exemptions and are lobbying for streamlined UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) processes before the system becomes mandatory for EU nationals in February 2027.
![Enterprise Ireland Leads 40-Company Trade Mission to Manchester]()
For Irish executives trying to stay ahead of those rule changes, VisaHQ can smooth the path. The company’s dedicated Ireland page (https://www.visahq.com/ireland/) lets travellers pre-check ETA requirements, arrange work visas and organise passport renewals in one dashboard, sparing HR teams hours of paperwork and minimising trip disruption.
For corporate mobility teams the growing Irish cluster in Manchester offers talent-pool synergies and facilitates “two-way commuting” models where staff spend part of the week on each side of the Irish Sea, enabled by a dense Aer Lingus and Ryanair shuttle schedule.
For Irish executives trying to stay ahead of those rule changes, VisaHQ can smooth the path. The company’s dedicated Ireland page (https://www.visahq.com/ireland/) lets travellers pre-check ETA requirements, arrange work visas and organise passport renewals in one dashboard, sparing HR teams hours of paperwork and minimising trip disruption.
For corporate mobility teams the growing Irish cluster in Manchester offers talent-pool synergies and facilitates “two-way commuting” models where staff spend part of the week on each side of the Irish Sea, enabled by a dense Aer Lingus and Ryanair shuttle schedule.
