Enterprise Ireland, the Government agency responsible for developing Irish business globally, reported that Enterprise Ireland client companies based in Donegal created 422 jobs in 2016, bringing total employment by Enterprise Ireland clients to 3,581.
A total of 19,244 new jobs (full and part-time) in Enterprise Ireland supported businesses were created across the country in 2016.
This brings the total number of people employed by Enterprise Ireland supported companies to 201,108 – breaking the 200,000 milestone of people employed in Enterprise Ireland supported companies for the first time ever.
Digital Technology, Construction and Fintech were the key performing sectors.
Paschal McGuire, Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Director – North-East and North-West, said Donegal companies performed well.
“Despite global economic challenges in 2016, job creation by Irish companies in Donegal remained strong. As these results show, Irish companies have the capacity to create jobs in towns and cities across the country, with almost two-thirds of the new jobs created outside Dublin. We aim to build on this success to ensure that Irish companies in every region in Ireland are well positioned to continue to succeed globally, particularly in the context of Brexit.”
Enterprise Ireland also published its 2017-2020 Strategy – Build Scale, Expand Reach. The strategy builds on the success of recent years and sets new, ambitious targets for jobs and export growth:
· Exports – Grow exports by €5bn to €26bn per annum
· Spend in economy – Increase spend in the Irish economy by €4bn to €27bn per annum
· Jobs – Create 60,000 new jobs and sustain existing level of jobs
Key priorities for Enterprise Ireland will be:
– Driving innovation in Irish enterprise to unprecedented levels through new supports to reach the target of €1.25bn in R&D expenditure per annum by 2020.
– Improving the competitiveness of Irish companies through our Competitiveness and Lean programmes and new client engagement model, which will provide targeted supports.
– Increasing the reach of client company exports into new markets, with two-thirds of exports going beyond the UK.
– Major focus on the Eurozone, targeting a 50 per cent increase in exports.
