Almost 20 Irish companies have established operations in Poland in the past year, according to Mr Declan Ryan, managing director of Enterprise Ireland's Polish operation.

Addressing a conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr Ryan said Irish companies had invested more than €1 billion in Poland in the past decade, most of it over the past five years.

"Nearly 40 Irish companies have set up in Poland in the last 10 years. What is even more interesting is that almost 20 of these have been in the last year, compared to only one Irish company investing in 1990," he said.

Ireland exported nearly £200 million to Poland and imported £70 million from Poland last year.

Delegates at the conference heard that Poland's economy has been transformed into one of the most robust in Central Europe following reforms in the early 1990s.

While Poland now represented a potential competitor to Ireland for foreign investment and for companies looking to outsource production, Irish companies could reduce the risks arising from this evolution by participation in the Polish economy, said Mr Ryan.

"Poland will offer future growth for Irish companies as our economy begins to slow," said Mr Don Godson, director of the Project Management Group, which hosted the conference.

Among the Irish companies currently investing in Poland are Project Management, AIB and CRH.

Speakers highlighted Poland's central European location, its population of 40 million and a skilled and available labour force as beneficial factors. But the country's bureaucracy, high personal tax rates and corporate taxation were seen as drawbacks to doing business.