Irish Life opens redeveloped Dublin 1 headquarters and pledges 1% of pre-tax earnings to community and society initiatives

Dublin, 23 June 2026 - Irish Life today opens its redeveloped headquarters on Abbey Street, Dublin 1, at a ceremony attended by An Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Simon Harris TD, marking a major milestone in the company’s more than 80-year connection with Dublin’s north inner city.

To coincide with the opening, Irish Life today announces a series of significant new community commitments, headlined by a pledge to dedicate 1% of its pre-tax earnings annually - calculated on a three-year average - to improving the wellbeing of its communities, the environment and broader society. The pledge will fund Irish Life’s Society Strategy, which guides the company’s community, environmental and societal work, ensuring that as Irish Life grows, its contribution to Irish society grows with it.

Founded in Dublin 1 in 1939, Irish Life has been headquartered on Abbey Street for almost 50 years, and the refurbishment represents a significant investment in the company’s Dublin home. Rather than pursuing a full rebuild, Irish Life has retained and built on the existing structure. This approach supports a reduction in embodied carbon, while enhancing the building’s energy performance, achieving an A3 BER rating and Nearly Zero Energy Building status.

The completed headquarters, which will house up to 3,000 employees from Irish Life and Great-West’s  other businesses in Europe, has been designed to achieve leading international accreditations for sustainability and wellbeing, including LEED Platinum and WELL Platinum, and has already secured WiredScore Gold for digital connectivity and an Irish-first ModeScore Platinum for access to sustainable transport and commuter facilities.

Positioned close to key Dublin transport hubs, the building has been designed as a modern, sustainable workplace for Irish Life’s people and a base for the company’s continued investment in digital services and new ways of supporting customers. The project was delivered in collaboration with partners including MCA Architects, Urban Solutions, Walls Construction and KSN.

As part of its Society Strategy, Irish Life today announces two flagship partnerships rooted in the community surrounding its headquarters:

• Rethink Ireland - Inner-City Dublin Fund: Irish Life, Rethink Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht are creating a new €2 million Inner-City Dublin Fund, a three-year initiative supporting up to eight community-led organisations working on mental health and wellbeing, including financial wellbeing, community cohesion and inclusion. It represents Rethink Ireland’s largest investment focused on Dublin City communities and its largest single-donor contribution to a place-based fund. Irish Life is today announcing a commitment of €1.33 million to the fund, which will open to applications from social innovations in autumn 2026.
• Abbey Theatre: Irish Life is supporting the Abbey Theatre with a €1 million donation for a landmark three-year theatre and engagement project in the Dublin 1 community. This project, beginning in 2027, will have opportunities for participants of all ages and backgrounds to engage across every part of theatre-making as it builds towards production.

The commitments build on Irish Life’s existing community engagement in Dublin 1 and nationally, including local education programmes, a staff charities programme that has raised €6.24 million** since 1995, and the Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs partnership, recently extended to 2030.

Declan Bolger, Chief Executive Officer of Irish Life, said:

“This is a proud day for Irish Life. We were founded in Dublin 1, and when we looked at the future of our headquarters, we made a deliberate choice to stay, to invest, and to give this building a new life. The result is a nearly zero energy workplace, built to the highest standards of sustainability and wellbeing, in the heart of the community that has been part of Irish Life for generations.

“But a new headquarters should mean something beyond our own front door. That is why today we are putting a clear, lasting structure behind our commitment to Irish society. From this point forward, Irish Life will pledge 1% of its pre-tax base earnings every year to improving the wellbeing of our communities, our environment and broader society. It is a significant commitment, and a very deliberate one, aligning our commercial success directly with our contribution to Ireland, so that as we grow, the communities around us grow with us.

“Our partnerships with Rethink Ireland and the Abbey Theatre put that principle into practice right here in the north inner city, supporting community organisations tackling real challenges, and placing the voices of Dublin 1 at the centre of a great national cultural institution. Irish Life has been part of this community for more than 80 years. Today, we are putting down a marker for the decades ahead.”

About Irish Life:

Irish Life is one of Ireland’s leading financial services groups, now taking care of over 1.6 million customers. We help people to improve their financial, physical and mental wellbeing – helping to build better lives today and better futures.  

We are part of the Great West group of companies, one of the world’s leading life assurance organisations. Great West and its subsidiaries have total client assets of CAD$3.3 trillion ^[i] and are members of the Power Financial Corporation group of companies.

Irish Life delivers innovative solutions for personal and corporate customers, backed by the highest standards of service. And as part of Great West, we have access to experience and expertise on a global scale, so we can continuously enhance our leading range of services and solutions.

Media contact

Joe Corcoran, PR Manager, Irish Life

joe.corcoran@irishlife.ie | +353 83 860 7990

*Base earnings (loss) represent management’s view of the Company’s underlying business performance and are used as a non‑GAAP measure alongside IFRS net earnings. Base earnings are calculated by excluding specific items from IFRS reported net earnings that management considers not reflective of ongoing operating performance.

**as at 31 March 2026