Companies backed by State agency Enterprise Ireland exported €15.2 billion worth of goods and services last year, according to figures published today.

The agency, which supports homegrown businesses, said that the export performance broke all previous records and was more than €2 billion higher than in 2010.

The figure is based on a survey of all the agency's client companies.

Enterprise Ireland-supported companies created 9,076 new jobs, but 9,070 were lost, leaving a net job creation figure of six.

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, pointed out that job numbers in agency-backed companies stabilised in 2011, which was an improvement on the previous years, when jobs were lost.

Full-time employment stood at 141,228 in 2011, which was similar to the previous year.

Enterprise Ireland chief executive, Frank Ryan, said that businesses supported by the agency employ a total of 300,000 directly and indirectly, around one sixth of the Republic's workforce.