Enterprise Ireland sees increase in Cork employment

Enterprise Ireland companies in Cork have seen a five per cent boost in employment over the past 12 months, according to the Regional Director for the Southern region.

Representatives of Enterprise Ireland were in Cork yesterday (Wednesday) as part of a national road show to highlight the results of their Annual Report and Accounts for 2011.

“2011 has particularly been a year of record where we found our client companies have surpassed pre-recession levels in terms of exports," said Regional Director Enda McDonnell.

"Our companies have moved on in term of the extremely tough years in 2009 and 2010; now they are in a situation with record  exports.”

Enda was keen to highlight the challenge being met by Cork companies as extremely challenging but that the results are worth celebrating.

“Generally, Cork companies have done well,” said Enda.

“They have replicated what has been done nationally across all sectors. In employment terms we have seen a jump in five per cent in full and part-time jobs in 2011. We have seen the recovery  in employment in our client companies in Cork and that surpasses what is happening nationally. There is almost 20,000 people employed in Enterprise Ireland supported companies based in Cork city and county.”

Enda also highlighted that while the competition from abroad is fierce, the stabilisation in the market is continuing, with a hope that increases in employment will continue in 2012.

“It is still extremely challenging out there but we have a lot of really good companies doing the right thing and they are fighting for their market share.”

Tech jobs for Cork

The results come on the back of an announcement of 60 new jobs for Cork and Dublin with the investment of €50 million by electronics engineering company Xilinx.

It is expected that 45 positions will be immediately available for senior silicon and engineering staff in the Dublin and Cork operations. The move was welcomed by Cork South Central TD Jerry Buttimer as a further sign of growth in Cork.

“The decision by Xilinx to invest 50 million to expand its electronics engineering operations at the company’s Europe, Middle East and African headquarters is an acknowledgement of the strength of the company’s operation here and the talent of the workforce,” said Deputy Buttimer.

“The development of the domestic market is key to turning the economy around. This can be done by ensuring that the impact of foreign direct investment is deepened here. For every foreign multinational that sets-up or expands in Ireland, the knock-on implication for our home-grown industries, that supply ancillary goods or services, is immense.”

Xilinx provides All Programmable technologies and devices, with $2.2 billion in revenues in the fiscal year 2012 and nearly 50 percent market share in the programmable logic device market. The company makes very powerful programmable semiconductor microchips and related programming software.