Irish Companies Secured Over One Billion Euro In New Export Sales

Last Wednesday, Enterprise Ireland reported that its client companies achieved new export sales of €1.3bn in 2008, bringing the total value of exports from Enterprise Ireland-supported companies to €14.3bn. This represents a net increase of 3% on 2007, which was itself a record year for export growth.

Reporting on progress against its other strategic targets, the Enterprise Ireland annual report outlined that, by the end of 2008, 49 companies were engaged in 'significant' R&D (spending over €2m on R&D a year) and 707 clients were engaged in 'meaningful' R&D (spending over €100,000 a year).

Reflecting Ireland's continuing strong trend of entrepreneurship, the annual report also shows that Enterprise Ireland supported 71 new innovative high potential start-up companies (42 outside Dublin) across a range of knowledge-intensive sectors, including life sciences, biotechnology, medical devices and telecommunications, and a number of specific niche areas, such as compliance and risk management. 

These companies are expected to create close to 1,000 new jobs over the next three years.

In 2008, approvals for financial support to Enterprise Ireland client companies totalled €157.1m. This included support for R&D, start-ups, expansions, competitiveness improvement projects, and management development and training. Total financial payments to companies in 2008 amounted to €100.3m.

This included €30.7m in share capital investment, €55.1m in R&D, training and other capability building support, and €14.5m in capital and employment support for capacity expansion.

While some 10,522 new jobs were created in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in 2008, for the first time in many years, Enterprise Ireland reported a net decline in employment of 8,003. This brought total employment in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies in 2008 to 145,758.

Welcoming the report, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan T.D. said: "2008 saw the beginning of the global economic recession take hold and, while there was a net loss in employment, in all other areas - export sales, investment in R&D and new ventures, Enterprise Ireland clients performed robustly. High value sectors such as software, medical devices and internationally traded services continued to grow and further growth is expected in these sectors this year."