I split my working weeks between Dublin and Dubai, and the question I am asked most often on both sides is some version of the same thing. We are thinking about the UAE. Where do we start?
The interest is real. Non oil trade between the UAE and Ireland reached 1.2 billion US dollars in 2024, up from 694 million in 2019, according to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More than 14,000 Irish people now live here. The two governments held the first meeting of a new UAE Ireland Joint Economic Committee in December 2025, with aviation, ports, clean energy and financial services all on the table. And with Ireland holding the EU Council Presidency for the second half of 2026, the talks on a trade agreement between the UAE and the EU have an Irish voice in the room.
So the door is open. What I see go wrong is what happens next. A company with a strong reputation at home arrives in Dubai and assumes that reputation travelled with it. It did not. Nobody here has read your Business Post profile.
The media is smaller, and it wants a local reason
Ireland has a deep bench of national and regional titles. The UAE has fewer, and the business desks know exactly what they want: a UAE angle, a spokesperson based here, and something new to say about this market. A release written for Dublin rarely works in Dubai as it stands. The figures need to be local, the voice needs to be local, and very often the story needs to start from a different place altogether.
Radio and podcasts matter more than many Irish companies expect. People spend a lot of time in the car here, and a good conversation on the right business programme can do more for a new arrival than a page of print.
The calendar is different
The weekend here is Saturday and Sunday, but the rhythm of the year is its own. Ramadan changes the pace of business and of the news. The summer is quiet while families travel. And the big set pieces, Gulfood and GITEX among them, fill the agenda for a week either side. If your news is not part of those conversations, keep it well away from them.
Start before you arrive
My advice is always the same. Start talking before you open the door. Decide what you want people in the UAE to think of you a year from now. Find the one thing you can say about this market that nobody else is saying, and get your spokesperson ready to say it on air.
Do not go quiet at home
The other mistake is the opposite one. Irish companies put everything into the launch here and go silent in Ireland. Your staff, your customers and your investors at home are watching the move too. For me, the Gulf chapter is one of the best stories an Irish business will ever have, so tell it at home as well.
The Irish are well liked here, and doors open quickly. But a warm welcome is not the same as being known. That part still has to be earned, one conversation at a time.
Sources: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 2026; Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, December 2025.