There is no escaping the fact that the employment market in Ireland is buoyant, and James Kilbane, co-founder and chair- man of Grafton Recruitment, is adamant things are not going to change in the near future.

The recruitment consultancy, which was established on Dublin's Grafton Street in 1982, reported a 26 per cent increase in revenue in the year to the end of March.

Kilbane believes the company will have no trouble repeating that performance again in the current financial year.

"The market is very buoyant," he says, adding that he has seen no evidence of a slowdown in the Irish economy. "There was a time when we found jobs for people, we are now finding people for jobs and, in some cases even that is proving difficult."

Revenue in fiscal 2007 totalled £108 million (€155 million), up from £86 million (€123.5 million) the previous year, according to accounts due to be filed with the Companies Office.

About £68 million (€98 million) of that came from Ireland, where Grafton has 31 offices. Pretax profit, meanwhile, more than doubled to £3.9 million (€5.6 million) as the group added outlets and expanded into new regions.

It currently has 79 offices in 19 countries and is on track to achieve its goal of 90 by next March. While three of those will be in Ireland, the remainder will be spread around the world, including - all being well - the group's first foray into India.

What's driving the market, according to Kilbane, is the increased mobility of the workforce and he doesn't just mean the increased number of non-Irish nationals seeking employment in Ireland.

Despite having offices around the world, Grafton generally places local people in local jobs.

However, it is becoming evident that Ireland is going to have to compete harder with other countries for the best-skilled candidates, says Kilbane. "People that came over here seeking work are now starting to go back home. We in Ireland are going to have to compete in the international market for those skills."

Still, for the time being, things in Ireland are good. In the North he believes there is a definite peace dividend, which is producing a feel-good factor, while in the Republic, growth is mirroring that of the North despite the well-established nature of the business here.

"At the moment we are filling more vacancies than we ever have done before," (15,100 in Ireland last year), adding that there are still particular skills shortages in the areas of financial services and IT. "If we had 500 accountants we could place them immediately."