More than 400,000 people remain on the dole despite a drop in the numbers signing on for welfare payments, latest figures show.

IDA Ireland is hopeful that 2014 will rank as the fourth consecutive year of record investment and net job creation among its client companies.

The first six months of this year saw a 43% annualised increase in the number of foreign-owned firms investing in Ireland.

An online ticket sales firm, Viagogo, has announced plans to open a new operations centre in Limerick which is expected to creates hundreds of jobs.

AbbVie is to manufacture one of the world’s newest blockbuster drugs following an €85m expansion at its plant in Sligo.

Staff at Bausch + Lomb are facing average cuts of €6,000 to their basic pay under the cost-cutting plan announced by the company.

The IDA is posting 35 executives in key locations around the world in an effort to win extra investment and create 10,000 jobs over the next three years.

Ireland stands to benefit from any potential changes to international tax policies currently being considered by the OECD, and is playing an active and constructive role in their formation, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

The IDA is to start building factories for the first time in 30 years in an attempt to lure companies to Athlone and Waterford.

A top US medical devices company has chosen Limerick to make its new product, creating 270 high-end graduate jobs.

US travel accommodation company Airbnb has said it will double its workforce in Ireland to 200 employees by the end of this year.

A total of 400 direct and indirect jobs are being created by US niche drug firm, Alexion Pharmaceuticals as part of its second major Irish-based expansion announcement in as many months.

Aer Lingus have launched a new route between Dublin and San Francisco.

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The enterprise minister announced 150 new IT jobs in Cork yesterday as the live register fell below 400,000 for the first time since May 2009.

US-founded drug firm, Jazz Pharmaceuticals is to spend up to €50m on a new manufacturing facility in Co Roscommon; creating more than 200 jobs in the process.

Cork savoured another high-end jobs boost yesterday — bringing to over 700 the number of new jobs announced for the city in a week.

The decision of Tyco, world leader in fire protection and security systems, to locate in Cork and create 500 jobs is cause for celebration.

A global giant that quit manufacturing in Ireland in 2008 has returned with a bang — creating 500 jobs at a global business services centre in Cork.

IDA-affiliated companies created over 7,000 net new jobs during 2013 — the highest level of job creation seen for more than 10 years.

A stronger emphasis on broadening the regional spread of incoming multinational jobs and investment will be a key focus for IDA Ireland next year, its new chairman, Frank Ryan, said yesterday.

Four years after the closure of Dell’s manufacturing plant in Limerick with the loss of 1,900 jobs the devastated site at Raheen Industrial Park is poised for a revival following investment from US pharmaceutical giant Regeneron.

The chief executive of the IDA, Barry O’Leary, has defended the salaries of high fliers at the agency.

More than 2,000 staff at Marks & Spencer are due to start a series of one-day stoppages in the run-up to Christmas, beginning next Saturday.

Ireland’s international reputation will be damaged by power outages threatened by ESB workers, it was claimed.

Global pharmaceutical firm MSD’s announcement that it is to close its Swords plant with the potential loss of 570 jobs comes less than nine months after it confirmed 280 people were to be let go with the closure of its Wicklow facility.

Some 570 jobs at a pharmaceutical giant are being axed and scores of others are under threat at a major fashion retailer.

Deutsche Bank — Europe’s largest financial institution — is creating 700 jobs as part of a major expansion of its Irish operations.

Up to 400 jobs are being axed at an aircraft engine maintenance plant.

Multinational companies operating in Ireland are confident that they will increase their turnover and employment levels here despite a growing skills shortage.

Two years after Twitter’s European head quarters started with a single employee the company has announced that it is to take on a further 100.

A company that manufactures and sells marketing goods such as branded pens, cups and T-shirts, are to create 200 jobs in Dundalk.

Multinationals pay their fair share of corporate tax in Ireland compared with other countries, CEO of the IDA, Barry O’Leary told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee.

Global pharmaceutical giant Novartis has selected Dublin’s Elm Park Business Campus, near St Vincent’s Hospital, as the home for its new regional business services centre.

The Irish jobs market has received a much-needed boost with the announcement by international business consultancy firm Accenture of 140 new jobs.

A niche pharmaceutical company, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, has announced that it will be creating 50 jobs in Ireland with the establishment of a new facility to treat ultra-rare disorders.

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The level of IDA Ireland-attracted foreign inward investment increased by 15% on a like-for-like basis in the first six months of the year.

IDA Ireland expects to unveil at least another four significant inward investment announcements before the end of the year — mainly in the technology sector — but has said it remains only “cautiously optimistic” regarding the second half of 2013.

One of the world’s leading internet security firms is to establish a European customer management centre in Dublin, creating 400 jobs over the next two years.

Drugs giant, Pfizer has announced a further $130m (€100m) investment in its manufacturing facilities here, heralding a significant strengthening of its commitment to its Irish operations.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is to invest €100m at two of its sites in Ireland.

Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Müller has ruled out ever operating a flight between Dublin and Cork again, crushing the hopes of tech businesses hoping to capitalise on the new Dublin to San Francisco route.

Ninety jobs are to be created at four fast-growing companies, jobs minister Richard Bruton has announced.