IDA Ireland's job strategy feels the pinch

A mixed week on the jobs front for the Government, which has invested much energy in persuading incoming investors to establish their plants in the State's more deprived areas.

Having unveiled Cardinal Health's plans for 1,300 jobs in Longford to great fanfare early in the week, IDA Ireland admitted a 1,000 job plan - intended for the Border, Midlands and West region, possibly Sligo - had been pinched from under their noses by the Hungarians.

Enterprise Ireland has, for some time, been urging employers to look at placing unskilled jobs in Eastern Europe where wages are lower. Maybe, the incoming investors have twigged that they can save a goodly amount whatever skills required by following the same route.

And maybe, we have alerted our soon-to-be EU peers that there are jobs there for the taking.

It's not as though we have an endless pool of labour here just now to tempt foreign employers.

Dominic Coyle can be contacted at dcoyle@irish-times.ie