13th February 2015
13th February 2015
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today (Friday) welcomed the latest trade statistics from the CSO, showing that goods exports in 2014 were up 2.4% on 2013.
The statistics also show:
- Goods exports in December 2014 were up 18% on December 2013
- Notable increases were recorded in exports to China (+9%), Japan (+4%), USA (+8%) and France (+16%)
- Sectors which showed increases included food and live animals (+7%); as well as medical and pharmaceutical products (+5%)
Welcoming the statistics, Minister Bruton said:
“At the heart of our Action Plan for Jobs is building a new sustainable economy based on exports and enterprise. The plan which we started implementing after taking office was based on the strategy of initially targeting the exporting parts of the economy for growth, before subsequently aiming for increased activity in the domestic economy. That strategy has seen results and over the past four years we have seen strong performances in the exporting parts of the economy, with almost 40,000 jobs added in those areas – and jobs in the domestic economy starting to grow in more recent years.
“The exporting parts of the economy have seen some challenges in recent years, with the pharmaceutical patent cliff and international moves on corporation tax, but in Ireland all the indications have shown that the underlying performance has remained strong.
“Today’s figures are very encouraging, with goods exports showing impressive year-on-year growth. What is particularly encouraging is that they appear to be driven by sectors which we have specifically targeted as part of our plan, including the pharma and food areas.
“This week we have started putting in place a €250million plan to ensure that every region of the country can benefit from the jobs recovery. Every job created is a life back on track – and it is by growing jobs that we can grow the tax revenues we need to create a better country for people to live in, through improving services and putting money back in people’s pockets.
“We will continue to put in place measures to support our exporters, both multinational and Irish, to ensure that they can continue to drive our recovery and create the jobs we need in Ireland”.
ENDS
For further information:
Press Office, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation 01- 6312200 or press.office@djei.ie
Back to Department News