Údarás records drop in new jobs

JOBS created by the country’s leading job creation agencies dropped significantly last year.

In its end of year statement released yesterday, Údarás na Gaeltachta, the regional authority responsible for economic and social development in the Gaeltacht areas, said 1,038 new jobs were created last year, down from 1,186 in 2006.

Earlier this month the IDA said jobs created by IDA Ireland-backed firms fell by more than 2,600 last year from 11,846 a year earlier to an 11-year-low of 9,216. This figure compares with 22,802 jobs generated in 2000 when the economy was at its peak.

Enterprise Ireland has yet to release its figures, but Shannon Development, whose job-promotion role is confined to the Shannon Free Zone industrial area at the airport, said 350 jobs were created in the Free Zone last year but a loss of 480 jobs resulted in a net decrease of 130.

An tÚdarás chief executive, Pádraig Ó hAoláin said yesterday that the agency is facing a challenging year ahead. “It will be a major challenge for us to meet the development and employment targets set out for us, but the level of business enquiries and projects in the pipeline for the first quarter of 2008 are positive indicators.

“An tÚdarás hopes to build on this base in the coming months and to combat intense competition for new investment, additional marketing initiatives are being planned.”

Total employment in Údarás na Gaeltachta-assisted companies is 8,026, which means overall employment is more than 8,000 for the first time since 2001.

It is almost three years since An tÚdarás revealed a radical five-year action plan to create 850 jobs a year in Irish-speaking areas and restore the full-time employment level to 8,500 by 2010.

The figures released yesterday show the agency is on track to deliver that promise.

An tÚdarás also said yesterday that the lack of broadband services in many Gaeltacht areas is a big cause of frustration. It said it continues to lobby for the provision of broadband services throughout the Gaeltacht.

The report also said that the Irish language is at a critical and fragile stage as a community language in the Gaeltacht.

It said last year more than 1,200 adults attended Irish courses funded by An tÚdarás throughout the Gaeltacht, 80% of them being participants of European Irish Language Certificate courses.