Enterprise Ireland’s end-of-year-results highlight growth outside Dublin

20 Jan 2025

John Power and Leo Clancy. Image: Fintan Clarke/Coalesce.

The annual report has indicated a healthy year for businesses and employees around the country.

Enterprise Ireland held its yearly session announcing the results of its end-of-year report last Wednesday (15 January) at the Aerogen facility in Galway. The report highlighted a successful 12 months for the country, with numbers showing that employment in organisations supported by Enterprise Ireland stood at 234,454.

With 15,741 new roles being created throughout the year, it was a strong period of growth for Ireland, but particularly for the regions outside of Dublin, as 64pc of the jobs generated were outside of the capital. 

The announcement was made by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke, TD, with Leo Clancy of Enterprise Ireland and Aerogen’s John Power in attendance. Additionally, it was announced that Aerogen, Ireland’s largest indigenous medtech company, would be creating 725 new jobs in Galway and Shannon. 

“It’s great to see an increase in employment through Enterprise Ireland companies. We know from their three-year strategy that they have exceeded their target of 45,000 jobs, reaching over 50,000 jobs in the indigenous economy, and that’s very important to grow our exporters, which really provide a very strong mechanism for the Irish economy to be resilient into the future,” said Burke. 

“Also, to have 64pc of jobs outside of Dublin really feeds into government policy through the National Planning Framework, ensuring that our regions get an equal share of growth that we have in our country.”

In terms of regional employment growth, the west of Ireland had the strongest results with a rise of 6pc.

Employment rose in a number of key areas that are becoming increasingly important, both domestically and internationally. 

“We’re seeing sectors like climate sustainability and agri grow at the highest rate of 8pc,” explained Leo Clancy, the outgoing CEO of Enterprise Ireland. “We’re seeing life sciences grow at 7pc. 

“So, those industries that have global impact, if you look at the World Economic Forum, they will tell you that climate and sustainability, life sciences, and digital are the top three future global growth industries. We’re fortunate that we’re seeing matching growth in our companies in those areas.”

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Laura Varley is the Careers reporter for Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com