Waterford has a diverse spread of industries. Amongst the biggest companies located there are contact lens makers Bausch & Lomb, Aeronautical firm Honeywell, Waterford Crystal, toy manufacturers Hasbro, pharmaceutical producer Norton as well as AOL and Sunlife Canada.'

"The south-east is primarily defined as a manufacturing base with a traditional agri-food economy," says Dr Frank Dolphin, managing director of local recruitment company Rigney Dolphin. "In recent times the area has experienced the introduction of a new and growing sector of call centres", he says.

"Both AOL and NTL have support and technical centres here. In fact we've just opened our own small call centre, Iota, which provides outsourcing services to telecommunications companies such as Eircell and Vodafone. There has been a change over the years towards high technology and customer service. This trend is being driven and supported by the Institutes of Technology in Waterford and Carlow", he says.

While he admits that the jobs market has never reached the same peak in the south east as it has in Dublin or Cork Mr Dolphin describes employment numbers and prospects as "buoyant".

"Waterford has experienced steady growth in the last few years. It will continue to grow in the high-tech sectors and established companies will also carrying on developing.

"But if Waterford has never reached the same pitch as other parts of the country then it has winning qualities such as housing costs and the quality of life. These things have their own value," he argues.