MORE THAN 13,000 new jobs were created last year by the IDA, the State agency charged with encouraging international investment in Ireland.

This represents a 20 per cent increase on 2010, when 10,897 jobs were created.

In total, 13,068 jobs were created by IDA-supported companies in 2011. However, there were almost 7,000 job losses, leaving a net increase of 6,118 last year.

The 2011 performance marks a significant improvement on 2010, when 1,400 net jobs were created.

Some 148 individual investments were secured in 2011, a record performance for the agency.

The number of companies investing here for the first time – 61 – marked a 30 per cent increase on 2010.

US and European companies continued to dominate in terms of international investment into Ireland, with only five of the 61 companies from the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and two from Japan.

Chief executive Barry O’Leary said that while the IDA had increased its presence in the Bric region, opening offices in places such as Mumbai, Shenzhen and Bangalore, it was “tough” to establish market share in those countries.

“It will take a lot of investment and time,” he said.

The IDA had a capital budget of €86 million in 2011, which is used to financially support investment into Ireland.

About 80 per cent of its grant budget goes to research and development, while about half of all inward investment receives no grant aid.

The Government has committed to maintaining the IDA’s budget at €86 million next year, although Enterprise Ireland, which is charged with helping Irish company exports, will receive a 4 per cent increase in its capital budget this year.

Mr O’Leary said that while concern about the euro zone crisis did exist among multinationals, it had no impact on the number of companies investing in Ireland last year, although some firms were slower in committing to investment generally.

Among the new business wins last year were Zynga, Quest and Indian IT company HCL, while Google, Intel and Amgen made significant investments in their operations here.

One-third of the 61 companies that invested in Ireland for the first time were emerging firms with turnover of less than €20 million. This was part of the IDA’s strategy to target venture capital-backed companies in an early stage of development, as well as multinationals.

Mr O’Leary said the IDA employment creation target for 2012 was 12,500 jobs.

While he said it was too hard to predict the impact of the global economic downturn on foreign direct investment this year, the agency had a strong pipeline of business wins lined up for the first part of the year, including six significant life science investments, each worth more than €100 million.

These will also generate significant numbers of construction jobs, he said.