More than 50 per cent of the 90,000 jobs created in the past three years were outside Dublin and the mideast areas, Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton told the Dáil.

“Indeed the fastest rate of job growth in that period has been in the south-east and the midlands,’’ he added.

He said the number of people at work had increased by 14,300 in the Border region, 8,000 in the midlands and 22,700 in the southeast.

However, Mr Bruton added, the Government recognised some regions were growing faster than others.

“That is why we are putting in place regional action plans for jobs to accelerate employment in every region,’’ he added.

Independent TD Thomas Pringle said statistics had been tweaked to make them look good.

"The situation is much worse than it appears in counties Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim and this has to be addressed,'' he added.

Mr Pringle, who represents Donegal South West, said the east region could not continue to sustain the migration rate into it, which was happening because of the absence of jobs in the rest of the country.

Mr Bruton said some areas found it difficult to win IDA employment and the Government was investing in advance facilities to deal with this.

“For example, we are building in Letterkenny and we are now committing to building in Sligo,’’ he added.