Minister of State Thomas Byrne meets with business and sports leaders in Dallas, Texas.
Minister of State for Sport, Physical Education and the Gaeltacht, Thomas Byrne, began a four-day visit to this region in Dallas today. His first engagement was a breakfast event at the Dallas Cowboys Club organised by Trintech, a company founded in Ireland that provides financial close software solutions. Attendees included executives from the wider Dallas Fort Worth area, including several long-term Irish community members active in the region’s business community.
At the event, the Minster and Darren Heffernan, CEO of Trintech, discussed the relationship between Ireland and the US including the growing and mutually beneficial bilateral trade relationship. Minister Byrne spoke of the increasing investment from Ireland in the US with over 500 Irish companies operating across 50 states and employing over 100,000 people.
The event was also an opportunity to highlight Ireland’s thriving sports tech sector. Enterprise Ireland client Taoglas attended the breakfast. Taoglas designed the GPS antienna for devices sold by sports company STATSsports, which assist in the tracking of player movements. The Minister also noted the success of several Irish tech companies in the US, such as Orecco who have established a long-term partnership with the Dallas Mavericks.
The Minister’s next engagement was a roundtable discussion hosted by the World Affairs Council in Dallas on the theme of sports diplomacy. The event was attended by stakeholders drawn from the Dallas sports business community and local government.
The discussion focused particularly around legacy opportunities from major sporting events that are due to take place in Ireland and Dallas in the coming years such as the Ryder Cup in 2027 and European Soccer Championships in 2028 (EURO 2028), which will be played in Ireland and the FIFA Men’s Soccer World Cup, which Dallas is a host city for.