Vol. 455 No. 8
329 Mr. Leonard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment his views on the Industrial Development Authority's mid-term review for 1995 of the increase in employment in overseas companies which indicated 124 jobs in the Border counties out of 3,000 new jobs nationally. [12856/95]
As the Deputy indicates, employment in IDA-assisted overseas companies in the Border counties had a net increase of 124 jobs in the first six months of 1995, compared with a national net increase of 3,000 jobs during the same period.
However, the long term trend is the important factor, rather than a six month figure and since 1973, the number employed in IDA-assisted overseas companies in the Border counties has increased by 4,820 or 71 per cent. This was achieved against the background of a difficult security climate and compares with a national increase of 33,786 or 72 per cent during the same period.
In the past five years, net employment in Border counties has increased by 1,937 or 20 per cent. This is a substantially better performance than the country as a whole, which increased employment by 12.7 per cent (9,322) in the same period.
