The growth of jobs in companies supported by Enterprise Ireland surpassed targets last year and approached a total of 235,000, the agency said.
Chief executive Leo Clancy said such firms had created 15,741 new positions in 2024, bringing the total employed to 234,454, a net increase of 6,212.
Enterprise Ireland, which invests and supports the development of Irish-owned companies, had targeted 45,000 new jobs over a three-year cycle to 2024 as well as an increase in exports to €30 billion.
However, in announcing its results for the year on Wednesday, Mr Clancy said the agency had overachieved during the period, with 50,931 new jobs and exports amounting to more than €34 billion.
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“Two-thirds of the jobs created in the three-year period were outside Dublin and we supported 479 start-up businesses, up over 20 per cent on the prior three years,” he said.
“The results announced today give us a really strong platform on which to further grow and expand our enterprise base in a sustainable way over the next five years.”
With a new government being formed in Ireland and with the Trump administration coming back into power in the US, Mr Clancy said the agency would continue to steer clear of politics.
“We tend to not get involved in policy at worrying about politics, and trade is dealt with at a bloc level. So the European Union 27 countries and the US will make the agreements that they make,” he said.
“They’re always on trade. What we think Ireland can do very well is re-emphasise the role we have in our relationship with the United States and other trading partners. So I think if you look at that, we are now the seventh largest direct investors in the United States.”
[ Galway medtech company Aerogen to create 725 new jobs with €300m investmentOpens in new window ]
Mr Clancy pointed out that, in terms of US perceptions, Irish companies have invested in rural states and communities.
“We’re not building our policy based on politics. We haven’t done that over the 25 years of this agency and recent agencies. We’ve never pivoted based on politics or policy, except to respond to things that we know.”
Enterprise Ireland chairman Michael Carey said Mr Clancy, who is due to step down in March to take up a new leadership role in the private sector, will be replaced on an interim basis by current executive director Kevin Sherry, until a replacement is found following a recruitment process.
Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke noted that two-thirds of employment created in Enterprise Ireland supported companies last year was outside the Dublin region and said the new government would continue to seek a spread.
He pointed to Galway medtech firm Aerogen – which in a tie-in announcement revealed it was to create about 725 jobs over the next 10 years – saying it showed what could be achieved by tapping into the country’s talented workforce.
“It’s the largest in the life science sector that is an indigenous company to Ireland and one that we’re very proud of,” he said. “And, obviously, Enterprise Ireland has played a significant role in the development model Aerogen over their 25 years.”
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