Senator Margaret Cox, who runs ICE in Galway, a respected company combining recruitment, computer services and training, is not downbeat about the jobs situation in the west.

"It depends on how you measure the situation," she says.

"If you measure it against last year, there is a slow-down. But, compared with the year before, it is still on an even keel."

Ms Cox says people are a little more cautious about leaving their employment, and consequently there are fewer jobs to fill.

"There is a slow-down in expansion in all sectors, not just in the information technology area. Despite this, there is still a reasonable amount of activity."

But she continues: "It's noticeably slower but the bottom certainly has not fallen out of the market."

The turndown in the US economy has had its effects in Ireland because of the many American companies here, but in the context of employment in Galway, she believes the impact has been small.

Senator Cox says that one consequence of the employment slowdown is the closure of a number of recruitment agencies in the "cowboy" category that had been hastily set up to cash in on the boom, particularly in the information technology field.

"We would be more broad-ranging in our business, covering all sectors of the economy," she says.

"It should not be forgotten that we still have a healthy manufacturing base in Ireland and the service sector is also strong. Whatever may be happening with the American economy, it is certainly not doom and gloom here in the west of Ireland."