Minister Heydon leads St Patrick’s Day visit to San Francisco, Seattle and Sacramento
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Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, will visit Seattle, San Francisco and Sacramento over the coming week as part of his St Patrick’s Day visit to the United States.
Encompassing the theme for St Patrick’s Day 2026, which will highlight Ireland’s place in the world as a small, open trading economy, this visit is being led by Minister Heydon in collaboration with the Consulate General of Ireland in San Francisco, Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland and will include meetings and events seeking to build on the mutually beneficial trading relationship between Ireland and the United States.
Beginning in Seattle on Thursday, Minister Heydon met Boeing, reflecting the depth and reciprocity of the Ireland-United States economic relationship. The aviation sector is a strong example of this, with Irish aircraft leasing companies representing Boeing’s largest customer group and holding a current order book valued at approximately $115 billion. Around 900 US companies have chosen Ireland as their European base for innovation and growth, while Ireland is now the fifth largest source of foreign direct investment into the US, with nearly 800 Irish companies employing more than 200,000 people across all fifty states.
Following this, Minister Heydon will focus on agri-food trade with the US, the third largest destination for Irish agri-food exports in 2025, beginning with a meeting in Seattle with a distributor of Irish lamb and beef in the US.
In San Francisco, on Friday the Minister met a key distributor of Irish spirit drinks to the region. Later that day, he delivered remarks at the Bord Bia Spirit of Ireland event, which focuses on developing the profile of Irish spirit drink companies.
The Minister will also engage with a number of Irish dairy companies operating in the region, including Emerald Ice Cream which is now sold in approximately 1,000 outlets across the US and Ornua, whose brand Kerrygold which is the most popular imported brand of butter in the US and available nationwide across all main retailers. Ornua employs over 800 people in the US, in both its consumer foods and food ingredients businesses.
The Minister is also participating in a number of cultural engagements and community events celebrating St Patrick’s Day on Saturday and Sunday, recognising the important contribution of the Bay Area’s vibrant diaspora groups to the Ireland-US relationship. This includes taking part in the 175th St Patrick’s Day parade along San Francisco’s Market Street thoroughfare.
Minister Heydon will then travel to Sacramento on Monday to meet with the California State Department of Agriculture, followed by a visit to UC Davis to formally announce an expansion of the research partnership between UC Davis and University College Dublin, which currently focuses on the themes of Sustainable Food Systems, One Health, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. The Minister’s visit will conclude on Tuesday with a visit to the World AgriTech Innovation Summit and the Irish Tech Summit, where the Minister will outline Ireland’s credentials and commitment to further innovation in these sectors.
Commenting on his upcoming visit, Minister Heydon stated:
“This visit is highly important, especially given the particular emphasis on trade as part of the theme for this year’s St Patrick’s Day visits. The mutually beneficially trading relationship between the United States and Ireland is key in all sectors, particularly the agriculture sector where the US is both a key export market but also a beneficiary of employment from several Irish companies.
“I look forward to having the opportunity during this visit to promote Ireland’s reputation both as an exporter of sustainably produced, world class agri-food products and being at the cutting edge of research and innovation.
“I look forward to engaging with political, business, civil society, cultural and diaspora leaders in the US and promoting Ireland, Irish values and Ireland’s interests in this region.”
Bord Bia CEO, Jim O’Toole, said:
“For the month of March, the lens is on Ireland with Bord Bia promoting Irish food and drink with key customers across a number of US states. In 2025, in the face of tariff headwinds and global supply chain issues, Irish exports to the US rose by 5% to €1.9 billion. Bord Bia is engaging in strategic buyer meetings for the dairy, drinks, meat and seafood sectors this week with a focus on value added opportunities for Irish companies. The US is our second biggest export market, and we are confident that these meetings and promotional activities will demonstrate Ireland’s resilience and business continuity.”
Killian McMahon, Head of Enterprise Ireland San Francisco, said:
“The US market continues to be one of immense strategic importance for Enterprise Ireland client companies. In 2024, client exports to the United States reached €6.6 billion, highlighting the scale and momentum of Irish innovation in the second largest export market for Enterprise Ireland–backed firms. We are delighted to support Minister Heydon’s visit to the West Coast, and to showcase the innovation, ambition and capability of Irish companies operating in this region. We are also pleased to have Minister Heydon engage directly with client companies at the Irish Tech Summit.”
Minister Heydon’s visit commenced on Thursday, 12 March in Seattle and will conclude on Tuesday, 17 March in San Francisco.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
The US ranked 3rd among destinations for Irish agri-food exports in 2025 according to the CSO, with exports amounting to €1.9 billion; equivalent to 9.2% of agri-food exports by value and amounting to 359,830 tonnes. These exports to the United States were led by dairy (€859.7 million) and beverages (€834.7 million).
In value terms, this represents an increase of 3% (+€50 million) on 2024 (€1.86 billion in 2024). In volume terms, this marked an increase of 6.4% or +21,633 tonnes from 2024 (339,197 tonnes in 2024). In 2015, exports to the US were valued at €881 million, showing an increase of 118% (+€1bn) in value in the decade, while volume increased by 93%, from 186,172 tonnes in 2015 (+173,659 tonnes).