Some 70,000 Irish emigrants will have returned home by 2020 to take up new jobs and build their future here, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Mr Kenny said that next year, for the first time since the economic crisis began, Ireland could expect to welcome home more people than will leave.

He was speaking at the Thanksgiving lunch of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland in Dublin on Thursday. “What they carry home with them, their experience and knowledge and confidence, will be a huge boost to Irish business and the Irish economy,” Mr Kenny said.

The Taoiseach said 135,000 jobs had been added to the economy since the Government published its Action Plan for Jobs in 2012, but the aim was to create a further 266,000 jobs by 2020.

Strong links

US ambassador to Ireland Kevin O’Malley said he had been impressed by the strong links between business and Irish educational institutions.

"We are no doubt at a very important nexus in the Irish-US commercial relationship," he said. President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland Eamonn Sinnott said US firms were responsible for supporting close to a quarter of a million jobs and contributing €16 billion annually to the Irish economy.