The downturn in the Irish manufacturing sector is bottoming out, according to Enterprise Ireland. The market for Irish-owned exporters will remain tough for the first half of the year, but is not expected to get worse, according to Mr Dan Flinter, the chief executive of the development agency.
"Overseas buyers are showing more interest than they did six months ago," he said. Enterprise Ireland expects job creation by its client firms to be at a similar level to this year, when 14,000 jobs were created with the agency's assistance.
However, more than 13,000 jobs were lost at Enterprise Ireland-backed firms, giving a net job gain of only 1,081, compared with 8,988 last year.
Mr Flinter said it was impossible to estimate what the job losses figure would be this year.
The main priority of Enterprise Ireland's client firms this year was revenue generation through export sales, Mr Flinter said. "They want to know how they can convert research and development expenditure into sales," he said.
"Our plan for the year is based around that priority and actions that will facilitate it," he said."Where we can add most direct value to companies is by seeking out and gaining access to key buyers on a worldwide basis. Our objective this year is to deliver 3,000 planned meetings between companies and key buyers, an increase of 20 per cent over last year," he said.
"In effect, our overseas office network will be engaged in a significant group client market development action every two working days this year," he said.
The organisation has expanded its overseas incubator network from two to 11, with new offices in Paris, Munich, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Vienna.
New accommodation will be opened in Dusseldorf, Madrid and Beijing this year. The incubator units facilitate the establishment by Irish companies of a presence in export markets which "keeps them close to their customers", Mr Flinter said.
Enterprise Ireland has an annual budget of €152 million (£120 million) of which €84 million is for administration and expenses. The remainder is distributed as grants. The organisation met all the key targets in its business strategy for the three years to the end of 2001, said Mr Flinter. Exports from Enterprise Ireland-supported companies rose 31 per cent in the period, to €11.5 billion, while employment grew by 15,000.
Employment growth was "resilient" this year because Irish companies "demonstrated an unwavering focus on export market development and a strong commitment to continued investment in research and development", he said.
More than 50 companies invested €1.3 million or more in research and development projects last year, compared with 25 in 1997.
Almost 200 projects with a total investment value of €100 million were supported last year.
IBEC, the employers' lobby group, said yesterday that the fall in the number of net jobs created by Enterprise Ireland last year was unsurprising, given the sharp slowdown in global activity.
