Eight out of 10 IT companies in Ireland say they plan to recruit within the next three months. The study of over 700 companies was conducted by the Irish Software Association.

However it says that 51% of companies find it difficult to find employees with the necessary skills.

It says that estimates put the number of IT vacancies at 4,000. According to an EU study, the EU labour market could face an excess demand of 384,000 IT professionals by 2015.

The survey found that 85% of Irish IT companies see overall revenues increasing as a result of increased international business, as Irish IT companies continue to scale globally.

The results show that funding remains an issue for the sector, with over one-third of CEOs saying they were unhappy with the availability of funding for the sector.

But it also says that levels of confidence are up, with 63% of respondents saying that they are more confident about their business now compared to three months ago.

The organisation says that the Irish digital IT sector is growing - with almost 730 Irish owned digital technology companies employing over 10,000 people and contributing €1.8 billion to the economy.

Director of the Irish Software Association Paul Sweetman says many government and industry initiatives have been put in place to help the sector.