There was further good news on the jobs front yesterday with confirmation of a drop in redundancies for the first time in four years.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said that 23,372 redundancies had been notified to it last year, a fall of more than 4,000 - or 15.6 per cent - compared to 2003.

A reduction had been anticipated but was boosted by a particularly sharp drop in December, when just 1,293 redundancies were notified, the lowest monthly total for the year.

This was a reduction of more than 50 per cent on the number of redundancies in December 2003.

The figures reflect a particularly good second six months to the year, given that until to the end of June redundancies were running ahead of the corresponding totals for 2003. The statistics provide further evidence that the recovery in the economy is delivering jobs.

The State training and employment authority, FÁS, said last month that about 44,000 additional jobs had been created last year. It predicted further employment growth of 1.7 per cent, or 32,000 additional jobs, in 2005.

A survey by recruitment specialists Manpower also suggested employment growth will continue to be strong in 2005.

The rate of redundancies last year remained far in excess of that of the late 1990s, at the height of the economic boom. The new figures, however, suggest the rapid escalation in redundancies recorded since 2000 may finally have peaked.

After a low of 11,780 notifications to the Department in 1997, the figure gradually increased to just over 13,000 in 2000. It increased rapidly in successive years, rising to 27,702 in 2003.

The reversal of that trend in 2004 has been apparent for some time, but the particularly sharp drop last month meant the outcome for the year was even better than expected.

Only last month, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Martin, told the Dáil, that to the end of November there had been a reduction in redundancies of 11 per cent compared to the same period in 2003.