Enterprise Ireland expects 1,000 net new jobs will have been created in 2001, compared with a projection of 3,000, the Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, said yesterday. The figure reflects the jobs created less jobs lost in Enterprise Ireland-sponsored firms and it relates to indigenous industries.
An Enterprise Ireland spokesman said afterwards that the cut in the forecast figure had applied across the board, in terms of expansions deferred or firms contracting. Final figures will not be available until the middle of next month.
At an ATGWU seminar in Dundalk, Co Louth, Mr Kitt said IDA Ireland's pipeline of inward investment projects was somewhat healthier than the circumstances might suggest and as many people would be employed in IDA-supported companies at the end of this year as there were at the end of last year.
He appealed to trade unionists to become involved in the InterTradeIreland agency, which is building cooperation in trade and business development between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
