Job creation to be halved this year

The Government has admitted it won't be able to create as many jobs this year as it did last year.

The Minister for Enterprise, Micheál Martin says job creation in 2008 will be half what it was in 2007, when he spoke in Cork, as he announced 150 new jobs for the city.

The posts will be created over the next three years by Citco Fund Services.

Overall job creation will be considerably down according to the Minister.

"We had 80,000 created in 2007, we wont have eighty thousand created in 08 – its estimated somewhere between thirty six and forty thousand jobs will be created this year.

We are concentrating on building up Irish owned companies and attracting in good quality additional jobs from the inward investment side".