Job creation - Reforms still essential

Last week, Enterprise Ireland were able to report that exporters created more jobs last year than in any year since 2006.

Yesterday, the IDA made their contribution to a nascent sense of optimism when they reported a gain of 6,570 jobs in the FDI sector last year.

Though these are moderate figures in the face of an unemployment rate stubbornly fixed at around 14%, they still represent good news.

It would, of course, be better news if more jobs had been created but they represent a change in direction for one of the vital graphs in our economy.

It would be foolish to imagine that this moderate turnaround represents anything approaching a recovery though.

We must press ahead with a whole range of reforms before that can be anticipated.