In its End of Year Statement published on Monday, Enterprise Ireland reported that client companies created 19,705 new jobs in 2014.

This resulted in a net increase of 8,476 in the number of people employed by Enterprise Ireland supported companies, the highest net gain in the history of the agency. This increase in employment reinforces Enterprise Ireland’s strategy of driving innovation, scale and leadership positions in international markets and new sectors.

This continuation of employment growth demonstrates clearly the direct impact that increasing exports has on jobs in Ireland. Enterprise Ireland supported companies now, directly and indirectly, account for more than 300,000 jobs in the Irish economy – 16% of total workforce.

Total direct employment (full and part time) in Enterprise Ireland client companies stood at 180,072 in 2014. Of these, 156,202 are full-time jobs, while 23,870 are part-time*.

These full-time employment and total employment levels are the highest recorded in the history of the agency.

Significantly, Enterprise Ireland clients recorded the lowest level of job losses since 2000.

*Source: The Annual Employment Survey carried out by Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation. The final 2014 report will be published in early 2015. Note: The survey was adjusted in 2014 to remove self-employed contractors working in our client companies resulting in an adjustment to the 2013 base of 3,500 “other” jobs.

Julie Sinnamon, Chief Executive Officer of Enterprise Ireland said: “We are very proud of the record performance of our clients right across the country. The level of increased employment achieved is remarkable and endorses the strategy we have embarked on to 2016. We continue to relentlessly focus on ensuring the right supports are available for clients at every stage of growth. This focus, coupled with our priority to support entrepreneurship across the regions, and develop strong, export focussed, ambitious Irish companies that can win new business, will mean even more jobs for Ireland over the next 12 months”.

Commenting on the outturn for the year, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton T.D. said: “At the heart of our Action Plan for Jobs is creating a powerful engine of Irish enterprise, alongside the strong multinational sector we have built in recent years. We have put in place a raft of measures to deliver on this, including doubling the number of trade missions, recruiting extra staff in overseas markets, and delivering new funding supports for Irish exporting companies.

“Today’s announcement that companies supported by Enterprise Ireland created a record 8,476 extra jobs in 2014 is a huge boost. This is the best performance in the history of the Agency, and great credit is owed to Julie and her staff for this excellent performance. Every job created in an Enterprise Ireland company supports an additional job elsewhere in the economy, through supply and service businesses, so the impact of this on communities across the country is massive.

“Through our plan to grow jobs in Irish companies, we can help drive economic growth and ultimately allow Government to put money in people’s pockets and improve services”.

Enterprise Ireland continued to deliver on the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs 2014. Regional entrepreneurship and enterprise development was a key area of focus and initiatives included regional Competitive Feasibility and Start Funds, working with the local third level colleges to optimise their connectivity with local enterprise and encouraging companies to export through 15 exporter awareness events and workshops.

The official launch of the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in April 2014 represented a major commitment by Government to support micro enterprise and small business throughout the country. Enterprise Ireland, through its Centre of Excellence in Shannon, provides backup support, training and guidance to the 31 LEOs to ensure a professional and consistent level of support is provided to all start-ups and small businesses. A major initiative undertaken this year by the LEOs with Enterprise Ireland support was Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition (IBYE) which attracted over 1,000 entries.

Starting and growing world-class businesses is at the core of our strategy and a significant amount of our supports are geared towards preparing and helping entrepreneurs all over the country set up global start-ups.

Enterprise Ireland committed to investment in 102 new High Potential Start Up companies with associated job commitments of 1,516.

Our Competitive Start Funds which provide critical very early stage funding were awarded to a further 81 companies.