Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 90: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of jobs lost in County Kildare in each of the past three years to date; the number of job replacements in the same period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13743/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Employment/unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey (June-August 2008), published by the CSO. It does not provide data on particular counties but only on Regions. Employment in the Mid East Region, which includes Kildare, has dropped by 4,700 and unemployment has increased by 8,700 in the period Quarter 4 2006 to Quarter 4 2008 (September-November).

The Forfás Annual Employment Survey reports on job gains in companies that are supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Industrial Development Agencies (IDA). Data is compiled on an annualised basis and is aggregated at county level. The attached tables set out the number of full time job gains in Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland assisted firms in Co. Kildare for each of the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Over the past 3 years, IDA Ireland's strategy for Kildare has been to promote the county as part of an integrated East Region. The East Region offers foreign direct investors a global gateway and benefits from almost half of all employment in IDA supported companies. At present there are 24 IDA Ireland supported companies in Kildare employing approximately 9,837 people. A recent example of the success of IDA's strategy in the area was the announcement by Hewlett Packard on 10th March 2009, of the expansion of its Global Service Desk operation at its Liffey Park Technology Campus in Leixlip. This will result in the creation of 500 jobs over the next 12 months in the areas of technical support, R&D and training.

In relation to the numbers of jobs lost, there is no exact measure, however, the Department records the number of redundancies notified to them on a monthly basis. The table below sets out the number of redundancy notifications received for County Kildare for the years 2006 to date.