The net total of jobs created by the IDA in foreign multinational companies over the last decade is four-and-a-half times less than the numbers who have joined the public service.

According to figures produced in the Dáil last week, employment in the public sector soared from 280,200 in 1998 to 357,700 last year. This is an increase of 77,500 in 10 years, an average of almost 7,750 per year – equivalent to the IDA attracting two Intel plants to Ireland every year.

In the same 10-year period, IDA Ireland secured more than 126,000 new jobs mainly from US multinationals setting up in Ireland. But more than 109,000 jobs in foreign multinationals were lost in the same period, which left a net jobs gain of more than 17,000, or 1,700 per year.

According to IDA figures, the state agency managed to create more jobs than were lost up right up until 2006, when more than 12,000 new jobs were created and 8,000 jobs lost. But in 2007 there was a slight net loss with 9,200 jobs created while foreign companies made 9,350 redundant.

And last year as the recession began to take hold, job creation among IDA-backed companies fell further to 8,800 while redundancies rose to 10,000, leaving a net loss of 1,200. And the net losses are likely to increase again this year.

By contrast, 4,500 net new jobs were created in the public sector last year nudging this year's paybill past the €20bn mark.

The increase in public-sector employment also came despite repeated efforts by finance minister Brian Lenihan to at least curtail the annual increase in public-service employment levels, particularly in the midst of the current recession.

The imbalance between public- and private-sector job creation also costs the taxpayer. According to IDA figures, the cost to the taxpayer of a job sustained among foreign multinationals was €12,577 in 2007.

But every public sector job created costs the same taxpayer more than €55,000.