MORE THAN 13,000 jobs were created by multinational companies in Ireland in 2011, according to new figures.

Twitter, Paypal, Intel, IBM, Coca-Cola and Pfizer were among the major companies which made significant investments in Ireland in 2011.

The IDA, the state agency responsible for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ireland,  has said that last year saw a “strong performance” by Ireland in the overall  level of FDI attracted to the country over the year.

The number of jobs was up 20 per cent on the figures from the previous year, in which 10,897 jobs were created by foreign companies.

The number of jobs being lost by people employed by multinational companies in Ireland remains high, but has decreased on previous years, leaving a net employment increase of 6,000 in government-supported multinationals.

“These results represent a very significant achievement at a very difficult time in the employment market,” Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said.

Almost 146,000 people are employed by companies which were attracted to Ireland by the IDA.

There were a total of 148 FDI investments made in this country last year, of which 61 were multinational companies investing in Ireland for the first time. The remainder were made by companies already in Ireland.

“Job losses were at their lowest in over a decade, leading to the best net jobs increase in over 10 years,” said IDA Ireland CEO Barry O’Leary.

ICT, life sciences, financial services, business services and digital media sectors made up the majority of the new jobs, O’Leary said.

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