AROUND 10 per cent was wiped off the value of exports from client companies of Enterprise Ireland this year.

The development agency said in an end-of-year statement yesterday that total exports from its client companies fell by 10 per cent to €13 billion this year. However, companies with which it has been working won an estimated €500 million in new export sales during the year, it added.

Enterprise Ireland is charged with providing funding, investment and support for home-grown firms focused on exporting goods and services. A fall in global demand, with the fall in the dollar and sterling, hit indigenous exporters in 2009, the statement said, adding that food sales to Britain suffered particularly.

Enterprise Ireland said it was focusing on moving clients to sell into the euro zone, which is free from currency risk.

“A new public procurement team was established in 2009 to support clients selling to public bodies in Ireland and overseas,” it added. “Eighty overseas public procurement contracts worth over €207 million were signed with Enterprise Ireland input in 2009.”

The agency said it was “ahead of target” on research development (R&D) and innovation. “In 2009, 115 client companies received RD approvals of greater than €100,000, amounting to €30 million in total. This represents 135 per cent of the forecasted figure for 2009,” it noted.

Chief executive Frank Ryan argued yesterday that the answer to the Republic’s economic situation remains a return to export-led growth. “That is what drove the economy in the foundation stages of the boom, and in Ireland, exports equals jobs,” he stressed.