Fianna Fáil TD for Kildare North, James Lawless, has today welcomed news that the number of staff employed by Enterprise Ireland supported companies rose by 11,911 last year, despite the impact of the pandemic.
This is the highest annual increase in net employment reported by Enterprise Ireland.
Employment increased across all economic sectors, with particularly strong jobs growth reported in Life Sciences (14%), Business Services (12%) and Digital Technology (10%).
Total employment by companies supported by Enterprise Ireland in 2021 was 207,894.
In welcoming Enterprise Ireland’s end of year positive results, Deputy Lawless said, " The positive job creation results announced today are a testament to the talent, resilience and innovation of businesses operating in Ireland today.
"Enterprise Ireland has been a stalwart in sustaining enterprise throughout a very difficult year for business. Together we managed to overcome these barriers by commencing once again a number of important physical trade missions throughout 2021 to the Eurozone area, the Gulf region and the U.K. and reignited our transatlantic relationships with Canada and the U.S. Despite the great challenges I am delighted that nearly 1,400 new overseas contracts were completed in 2021 and 184 Enterprise Ireland assisted companies have entered new markets.
"In collaboration with the Local Enterprise Offices, great strides have also been made in accelerating the pace of innovation, digitalisation, and transition to a low carbon economy.''
Other key achievements supporting jobs in 2021 highlighted in the End of Year Statement issued by Enterprise Ireland included:
- 125 new start-up companies supported
- 1,375 overseas contracts secured with Enterprise Ireland assistance and the resumption in September 2021 of physical trade missions
- €61.6m in funding approved for 341 COVID-impacted companies in 2021
- 218 companies received funding of more than €100,000 to support other projects in 2021
- €14.6m was approved for 1,048 projects under the Ready for Customs Grant
