THE NUMBER of Irish directors serving on company boards in the United Kingdom has increased by nearly 10 per cent in the last year, according to research published today.

Over 45,000 people now sit on such boards – a figure which is 40 per cent higher than the number of directors from Brazil, Russia, India and China – the UK’s major trading targets.

The number of Irish directors is almost double the number of French and Germans operating, according to the 2012 Eulogy! Foreign Directors Report, compiled by Eulogy! PR, a company led by Irishman Adrian Brady.

The figures are expected to be cited today by Taoiseach Enda Kenny and British prime minister David Cameron to emphasise the close business ties between Ireland and the UK when they meet in London.

One in six of all non-British directors in the UK is now Irish. The total number of Irish directors, which was first compiled in 2010, has grown year on year by over 9 per cent.

Strikingly, the number of young Irish registering as company directors has risen dramatically, up by 43 per cent, while Irishwomen are a third of the total – higher percentage than average.

London and the southeast are the most heavily populated with 39 per cent of Irish company directors located there, followed by the northwest, the west midlands and the southwest.

Mr Brady, the chief executive of Eulogy!, said the number illustrate “the tremendous and growing contribution” Irish people make to British business.