IDA Ireland has described this year as the best since 2000 in terms of the quality and value of investments from multinational companies.
Chief executive Sean Dorgan said all sectors had performed well, with a noticeable recovery in the IT sector. He said investment in research and development was becoming increasingly important.
In its end of year statement, the agency said total employment in companies it supports rose slightly to just under 129,000, reversing the trend of the past couple of years.
The number of new jobs created was 10,825, offset by job losses of 10,628. The number of jobs losses was down 20% on last year. The IDA said the higher skilled nature of the jobs was the most noteworthy aspect of the 2004 performance.
'This has certainly been the best year since 2000 in terms of the quality, depth and value of the investment decisions won. The results this year have a number of important characteristics which augur well for our knowledge economy strategy,' Sean Dorgan Chief Executive of IDA Ireland said.
Mr Dorgan said that the quality of the Irish workforce continued to be a key competitive advantage.
70 new projects worth a total of €5 billion were negotiated during the year, with 36 R&D projects which involved investment of €140m by the companies involved.
The IDA said the highlights included Intel's new Fab 24-2 facility, Guidant's 1,000 job expansion in Clonmel, and Bell Labs' decision to set up a research facility at Trinity College Dublin. There was also expansion plans from IBM and HP, biopharmaceutical investments from Centocor and Pfizer, news of major European centres from Merrill Lynch, Kelloggs, Business Objects and McAfee and upgrading and expansion in Dell's Irish services operations.
