IDA Ireland chief Michael Lohan has said the agency would consider removing X, formerly Twitter, from its portfolio of client companies if it is found to be intentionally flouting online safety rules.
He also warned that US president Donald Trump’s latest threat to impose new tariffs on European countries opposing his Greenland policy marked a worrying escalation in the dispute and posed a further threat to transatlantic trade.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Mr Lohan said the IDA would not support a company which “set out directly to flaunt laws or regulations”.
X is facing regulatory scrutiny in several countries after sexualised images of women and children generated by its AI tool Grok were posted online.
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While the social network says it had implemented corrective measures to block the misuse of Grok, safety campaigners say there are still easy workarounds.
“All companies need to be ethical in this area,” Mr Lohan said while insisting the agency would not prejudge an ongoing investigation into the company at EU level.
“Any company that we provide support to, we expect that company to adhere to the regulations and laws of that country whether in Ireland or across Europe,” he said.
The IDA supports client companies in a number of ways from location-finding to recruitment and access to grants. It has never been forced to pull this support for a breach of the legislation.
Mr Lohan said the current debacle between Europe and the US over Greenland, which is expected to dominate discussions at Davos, represented another layer of “uncertainty” for companies.
“If things evolve to a scenario where you have the US and Europe in a tit-for-tat trade war, imposing counter restrictions on each other, that is not going to be beneficial for the world economy,” he said.
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Mr Lohan described “the last 48 hours as another evolution in geopolitics” while calling on European leaders not to over-react and to reflect on the strength of the transatlantic relationship.
“Everyone in Europe is absolutely aligned on the rights of Greenland and Denmark,” he said.
Mr Lohan took part in a three-day trade mission, alongside Minister for Finance Simon Harris, to California last week where he met a number of IDA client companies including OpenAI, Agilent Technologies, Eli Lilly, Apple, Intel, MSD and Meta.
Despite the uncertain international backdrop, Mr Lohan said the feedback from companies about Ireland was generally positive. “Ireland is still seen as a safe and stable location which brings value to the enterprise,” he said.
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On reports that Ireland had lost out on big investments because of access to electricity and infrastructure, Mr Lohan admitted there had “been lost opportunity because of energy”.
However, he insisted the Government’s planned investment in the grid combined with the arrival of offshore wind would improve the State’s energy capacity and the pipeline of foreign direct investment in the process.
The agency is hosting a dinner for up to 50 top executives in Davos on Wednesday evening. The guest list has been kept confidential, with firms said to be sensitive about showcasing their foreign investments given the White House’s America First agenda.
Despite the current uncertainty, the flow of multinational investment into Ireland hit a record level in 2025 with the IDA’s latest full-year results showing the agency supported a record 323 investments last year, including 78 “new-name” investments.
