Funding and support given to 53 start-up companies by the Irish government should create 911 new jobs over the next three years.

The number of companies given funding through development agency Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-Ups Programme in the first six months of 2012 is up from the 42 that receive support in the same period last year. Those companies were on course to create 755 jobs in total.

The companies come from a wide range of sectors including financial services, IT & telecoms, and include international firms arriving in Ireland for the first time.

Incentives include a €10m (£7.8m) international start-up fund for overseas entrepreneurs to start up business in Ireland.

Jobs, enterprise and innovation minister Richard Bruton says that the programme is a key part of the government’s Action Plan for Jobs, and adds: “Our aim is not only to attract the next Google or Microsoft to Ireland, but to make it possible for the next Google or Microsoft to start-up in Ireland.”