Ireland Comes to Alberta

For sixteen years, the Ireland-Alberta relationship has largely moved in one direction — Albertan companies travelling to Ireland, building relationships and laying the groundwork for something more structured. In May 2026, that changed.

From May 4th to 7th, IATA organized and led the first coordinated inbound Irish business delegation to Alberta. Five senior Irish business leaders arrived in Calgary for an intensive week of government engagement, sector roundtables, bilateral meetings and site visits — delivered in partnership with Calgary Economic Development, Government of Alberta (JETI), Invest Greater Calgary and Invest Alberta.

This is what we built, what we learned and where we go next.

The Delegation

The five delegates represented Irish business capability with direct relevance to Alberta's priority sectors.

Jason Murphy, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Centrus, is one of Ireland's leading figures in infrastructure finance and debt advisory, with a track record across Ireland and the UK and an active interest in North American expansion.

John Ahern of Indaver brought one of Europe's most established integrated waste management and circular economy companies to the table, with major operations across Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

Andrew Connolly of Wrksense arrived with an AI-powered recruitment platform designed for high-volume, regulated-industry environments.

Soomin Lee of Impact Privacy brought expertise in data governance and AI compliance.

Grace Kelleher of Cork Chamber of Commerce represented one of Ireland's most internationally active regional business networks, with a mandate to build bilateral chamber relationships and open structured pathways for Cork member companies into new markets.

The Program

The week opened on Monday evening with a hosted welcome dinner — a chance for delegates and Calgary hosts to meet before the business program began. By Tuesday morning, the work was well underway.

The day started with a full delegation briefing hosted by Calgary Economic Development, Invest Alberta and Invest Greater Calgary, with Government of Alberta investment officers also present. It was a substantive session — current, practical and focused on what companies actually need to know when assessing Alberta as a market. The afternoon moved into individual meetings, each tailored to the delegate's sector and objectives.

Wednesday was the week's most intensive day. The Government of Alberta hosted the delegation for the Ireland-Alberta Business Connections roundtable at McDougall Centre — four concurrent sector discussions covering infrastructure and energy transition, digital technology and data governance, circular economy and waste management and trade and business networks. Each roundtable drew in Alberta-side participants with direct relevance to the Irish delegates in the room, and the conversations reflected it. Further one-on-one meetings followed in the afternoon, including with ERA Alberta and Platform Calgary.

That evening, IATA hosted a networking reception. Alberta's business leaders, sector experts, investors and ecosystem partners joined the Irish delegation for an evening of genuine connection. Calgary came to the table in a meaningful way — the room was full of people who wanted to be there, and it showed. A White Hat Ceremony, delivered by special guests with Tourism Calgary, marked the occasion, welcoming the delegates to the city in one of Calgary's most valued traditions.

Thursday moved the delegation out of the meeting room entirely. Site visits to energy and infrastructure facilities, waste management facilities, life-sciences hubs and more gave delegates firsthand exposure to the scale and ambition of Alberta's industrial landscape. Individual meetings and site visits continued throughout the day.

Over the course of the visit, delegates completed more than 20 individual meetings, bilateral sessions and site tours. Highlights included meetings and site visits with WestJet, the City of Calgary, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Town of Cochrane, Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Platform Calgary, Calgary Stampede, Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary, Alberta Chambers of Commerce, Innovate Calgary's Life Sciences Innovation Hub, Solas Energy and more.

A group dinner on Thursday evening closed the formal program.

About Alberta

Several themes came through consistently across the week.

Alberta is in active energy transition. The province produces over 4 million barrels of oil per day and is simultaneously leading Canada's investment in cleaner energy infrastructure, with three CCUS hubs proposed for the Calgary region alone. For Irish companies in technical advisory, financial structuring, and regulatory expertise, the pipeline of work is real and growing.

The broader infrastructure opportunity is significant. A regulatory reset combining the Canada-Alberta One Project, One Review MOU and the Building Canada Act has cleared a substantial pipeline of PPP, transport, and urban development projects. The current environment is an active one for firms in infrastructure finance and advisory.

Alberta's fiscal environment is consistently competitive — no provincial sales tax, the lowest provincial corporate income tax rate in Canada at 8%, no payroll tax and no health-care premium. For Irish companies running the numbers on North American expansion, Alberta holds up well against most comparable jurisdictions.

The province is also structured to support inbound investment. The Investment and Growth Fund — an invite-only incentive administered by the Government of Alberta — is designed to support late-stage investment decisions where demonstrable barriers exist. The message from Alberta-side participants throughout the week was consistent: the appetite for international investment is genuine, and the supports are real.

Why Ireland and Alberta

The commercial relationship has grown considerably since CETA came into provisional application. Two-way trade in goods and services between Ireland and Canada has grown from €3.2 billion in 2016 to more than €10 billion in 2023, with Ireland's goods exports to Canada reaching €4.1 billion in 2024. With Ireland's full ratification of CETA strengthens this further, giving Irish companies preferential terms across tariffs, professional qualifications recognition and public procurement.

The cultural foundation is well established. Almost 4.3 million Canadians claim Irish heritage, and Alberta's Irish diaspora is represented across the province's energy, engineering, healthcare and professional services sectors. Shared language, common law legal traditions and a compatible business culture make Alberta a natural starting point for Irish companies entering the North American market.

For those assessing where to begin, Calgary offers a combination that is genuinely competitive: the lowest combined tax burden of any Canadian province, direct transatlantic air connectivity, an English-language common law environment and a government actively seeking international investment. It is also home to the largest concentration of company headquarters in Canada, and fastest growing technology and innovation ecosystem.

What Comes Next

The inaugural inbound mission has set a strong foundation. The relationships built across the week — between Irish delegates, Alberta government officials, sector leaders and business networks — are ones we will actively support through the summer and beyond.

We are following up with delegates and Alberta-side participants, tracking progress, and identifying where structured next steps make sense. The mission has also informed our upcoming programming, including a planned outbound life sciences mission to Galway in September 2026.

To learn more about membership and upcoming programs, visit irelandalbertatrade.com.

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