Jobs Minister Richard Bruton claims a Government plan to create 25,000 jobs in the south-east will depend on getting communities and relevant agencies to collaborate effectively.

The plan aims to increase employment by 10pc-15pc in the region, which was very badly hit by the crash and encompasses Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

The plan aims, among other things, to develop a cluster of advanced manufacturing and 3D printing companies in the south-east. It was born in part out of a previous jobs plan for the region.

Mr Bruton believes that "based on all the evidence and the strong buy-in for the process up to this point, it is realistic to target 25,000 additional jobs in the region by 2020".

He added: "I believe that this is a really important area that we have not tapped in the past.

"We haven't had real regional enterprise strategies. And this is the first time we're doing that.

"We're putting financial incentives into the process, that we think will drive the collaboration and the new ideas."

Small Firms Association director Patricia Callan said she thought the jobs target was achievable. "In terms of the track record of what's been achieved in the region, in particular over the last number of years, it shows that targeted interventions ... can achieve real success," Ms Callan told the Irish Independent.

She said the key was to "come up with new ideas, you set a timeline for delivery, you get all of the agencies working collaboratively and all of the business and local community leaders involved".

"I think the pattern for industrial development across Europe, across the world, is this concept of city regions... having regions competing with each other for investment, giving multinationals an opportunity to decide where they want to invest," she added. "Each region can point to different quality-of-life benefits, in terms of cost of living ... and having a well-educated workforce on your doorstep."

Three companies announced plans for the creation of a total of nearly 300 new jobs in the region yesterday.

Irish outsourced customer care company Eishtec said it would create 200 jobs in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, over the next six months.

Bluefin Payment Systems said it would create 40 jobs in Waterford City over the next three to five years, while information security services company CipherTechs said it would create 36 new jobs in Kilkenny over five years.

Separately, members of Geoscience Ireland said they created a total of 134 new jobs in the first six months of 2015.

Irish Independent