Ireland deals 'offer jobs boost' - graduate jobs

Ireland may be a good place for graduates to find work in 2012 as, thanks to investors, job numbers are on the rise.

Figures from IDA Ireland show there was a record number of investments in the country last year.

IDA, which is responsible for bringing direct foreign investment into the country, revealed there were 148 new investments across all sectors last year.

Barry O'Leary, chief executive of IDA, said that despite a difficult economic environment, the country succeeded in attracting "significant" investment.

"Most encouraging has been the increase in job numbers and the rise in the number of investments from IDA client companies," Mr O'Leary said.

Last year, more than 13,000 jobs were made by IDA's clients, which was a 20% increase on the 10,897 jobs created in 2010.

The 148 investments which IDA secured marked a 17% increase on the previous year's investments.

Of the investments, 61 were from multinational companies which were first-time investors in Ireland, and 87 were made by clients that had already invested.

The organisations which made significant investments included Coca Cola, IBM, PayPal, Twitter, Pfizer and Intel.

Copyright Press Association 2012