More than 1,000 jobs were lost in the Shannon Free Zone last year, new figures released yesterday confirm.

Shannon Development chief executive Vincent Cunane said that 2009 – the agency’s 50th anniversary – was “a very challenging and particularly negative year across all sectors of our operation”. The net loss of jobs in the zone was 787, after allowing for the creation of 260 jobs last year.

The 11 per cent drop in jobs in 2009 – in part due to losses at Element Six and Molex – reduces to 6,320 the number of people employed at the zone. Dr Cunane defended Shannon Development’s record on the Free Zone, stating the 11 per cent drop “is on a par with what happened nationally with the IDA last year”.