Accountancy and consultancy firm KPMG is to create 330 new jobs. The firm is looking to fill roles in the areas of audit, tax and advisory and plans to make the appointments through 2014. The company said it was looking to fill a range of 60 senior and 270 graduate trainee positions in Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Galway. The 60 senior positions will be at managerial and senior managerial level across the firm.

Managing partner Shaun Murphy said signs of domestic growth and Ireland's continued reputation as the location for foreign direct investment had led to increased demand for the company's services. "Signs of recovery are good and strong client demand in many areas means that we are looking to fill roles in the audit, tax and advisory areas of our business." Mr Murphy said this level of recruitment was a "vote of confidence in the calibre of Irish graduates and testament to the significant job opportunities for graduates in Ireland".

The company said it planned to recruit the 270 graduates this autumn, adding that it was the largest graduate intake of any Irish business. KPMG currently employs 1,900 people in Ireland and takes on approximately 270 graduates each year as part of its graduate trainee programme.

The jobs announcement follows another by call centre Eishtec, which last week said it would create another 250 jobs in Waterford and Wexford by mid-2014 after securing a contract in Britain. Recruitment for the roles, which will bring Eishtec’s total employee figures to 900, has already begun.

Ireland's unemployment rate fell to 13.3 per cent in September according to the Central Statistics Office, its lowest level in more than 3½ years.