IDA figures - Jobs boom needs State investment
In its end of year statement for 2005, the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) reports the best year for job creation since the heady days of the Celtic Tiger in 2000.
Overall, a total of 12,600 jobs were created by foreign multi-nationals in Ireland, making last year the second best on record despite 8,000 job losses.
What makes this performance even more positive is that most of the new jobs were in regional black spots. Equally significant was the fact that an increasing number of jobs are for skilled and third-level graduates.
This underlines the urgent need for Ireland to increase spending on third-level education as we can no longer compete with low cost countries.
With Cork set to gain one of the largest investments ever to come to Ireland, the bright news is that the IDA predicts another bumper year ahead.
