There was good news on the jobs front yesterday with a marketing materials firm based in Dundalk, Co Louth, announcing it will take on 250 seasonal call centre workers.

Irish venture capitalists poured €60m into companies last year, according to the Enterprise Ireland Seed and Venture Capital Programme 2011 Report.

Irish-owned companies last year achieved more than €15bn in exports, a record amount that exceeded even the highs of the Celtic Tiger era.