Taoiseach sees Irish firms seal €60m US deals

Renting DVDs could be made obsolete by technology being developed by a Galway company, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and a group of Enterprise Ireland guests heard in New York yesterday.

Mr Ahern welcomed US deals by five Irish companies worth a total of €60 million and said that Ireland's exports to the US had doubled since 1999. He later unveiled a new plaque at Eamon de Valera's birthplace and rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

The deals announced at the Enterprise Ireland luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan included one by Galway company Porto Media, which has signed an agreement with IBM to distribute digital content using flash memory. Porto Media says its flash memory allows users to download and store a 120-minute movie in just 18 seconds.

Porto Media also announced that it is working with IBM to replace rental DVDs with a system that would allow users to go to a "media kiosk" where they can download movies onto the card.

Users could then play back the movie using a range of electronic devices including mobile phones.

Mr Ahern said the new deals showed that Ireland's investment in education and research had paid off.

"There are enormous opportunities for increased trade growth between Ireland and the US. The major growth areas offering potential include software, services, industrial, healthcare and consumer products," Mr Ahern said.

The other companies announcing deals include Information Mosaic, Steel Trace, Norkom, and First Ireland Spirits.

Information Mosaic has secured a multi-million dollar deal with Brown Brothers Harriman, the oldest privately owned investment bank in the US.

Norkom, another IT firm, has won a global contract with Standard Chartered Bank to fight money laundering.

Abbeyleix, Co Laois company First Ireland Spirits announced a wider US distribution deal for their drink, O'Mara's Irish Country Cream. The deal, with a Kentucky company, Heaven Hill Distilleries, is worth approximately $40 million.

Dublin IT company Steel Trace announced that its quality testing system is to be used by the Compuware Corporation.