Over 19,000 jobs lost at Enterprise Ireland firms

MORE THAN 19,000 jobs were lost at Enterprise Ireland-supported companies last year, figures published yesterday show.

Enterprise Ireland’s annual report indicates 7,443 jobs were created in 2009, bringing the number employed at companies it backs to 133,523, but 19,078 positions were made redundant.

The agency is responsible for the development of Irish companies and driving export sales. Its client companies are responsible for more than 250,000 jobs and spend an estimated €19 billion a year in the Irish economy.

Speaking at the publication of the report in Dublin yesterday, chief executive Frank Ryan said it forecast 10,000 jobs would be created this year. However, he admitted this would not be enough to counteract the jobs lost.

“The investment pipeline for 2010 indicates that new jobs created will exceed 2009 figures, as client companies continue to invest in competitiveness improvement measures and achieve export sales.”

Mr Ryan said its client companies are expected to create 60,000 jobs by the end of 2015, “ a stretch-target for us but we are absolutely up to the challenge.”

Irish firms’ performance last year had been “extremely resilient”, he said, and there had been solid export growth during the first six months of 2010.

He warned that while companies were reliant on key markets such as the US and Britain, the country’s “international trading footprint” had to evolve.

“We must become strong in trading areas where we haven’t traditionally been strong such as Brazil and India. We have to follow the money,” he said.

During 2009, Enterprise Ireland approved funding of €167.4 million to 1,460 companies. The agency invested in 73 start-up firms which are expected to create more than 900 jobs and achieve sales of over €600 million in the next three years.

Total export sales by client companies fell 10 per cent last year from €14.3 billion to €12.9 billion. This includes new export sales of €693 million. Export sales of software-related goods and services rose 6 per cent to €852 million, life sciences-related sales rose 6 per cent to €671 million and internationally-traded services sales were up 5 per cent to €1.61 billion.