IDA IRELAND HAS announced the greatest level of employment in its client companies in the agency’s 67-year history.

The government body responsible for attracting foreign direct investment says 187,056 people are now employed by overseas companies - ”the highest level on record”.

The total payroll is estimated to be about €9 billion.

IDA client companies created 18,983 jobs on the ground during 2015, up from 15,012 in 2014.

Net jobs were 11,833, compared to 7,131 in the same time period last year, representing a year-on-year rise of 66%.

Facebook’s plans for a new data centre in Clonee, county Meath and Apple’s €850 million investment in Athenry, Galway were among the leading investments secured during the year.

Last year, 53% of all jobs created by IDA clients were based outside of Dublin, compared to 49% in 2014.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton hailed the work and the results, claiming the Action Play for Jobs put together by his government was replacing an economy model “based on property and debt which collapsed”.

It has been truly an export-led recovery, and multinational companies have played a massive role in this.

In the annual report, IDA Ireland claim that its clients “are major contributors to Ireland’s corporation tax receipts, representing approximately 65% of all receipts in 2014″. The Department of Finance has put this year’s bumper corporation tax figure at €6.87 billion.

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