Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Job creation and retention in Enterprise Ireland-supported companies are day-to-day matters for the agency itself, and not ones in which I am directly involved.

Provisional figures indicate that in 2005 the number of jobs gained in Enterprise Ireland companies amounted to 12,212. That was offset by job losses of 12,430, giving a net decline of 218. I emphasise that those 2005 figures are provisional and will be finalised only when the 2006 Forfás employment survey is undertaken later this year. This time last year, the provisional figures for 2004 indicated a net job loss of 1,317 in Enterprise Ireland companies. However, outturn figures for 2004 now show that Enterprise Ireland companies created 15,933 jobs and lost 13,956 jobs, resulting in a net gain for 2004 of 1,977 jobs.

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