I've noticed a huge increase in the number of Web Design and Development jobs posted on Irish Jobs, Creative Ireland, etc. recently. Knowing a few of the people who are hiring, I'm told that decent production staff are fairly thin on the ground. One thing I haven't noticed however is that salaries aren't really increasing inline with demand.
A lot of Web agencies seem reluctant to pay for talent, preferring to save a few quid in the hope of finding someone cheap (due to inexperience) yet talented. I know it seems like good business sense but it's hardly a workable long-term employment strategy. Once your designers get experience, they're likely to go somewhere else on a much higher salary.
I know some very skilled Web Developers with 7 years+ experience being expected to work for €30k-€35k per annum. Which is, quite frankly, ridiculous - especially in a city as expensive as Dublin.
I guess it's just a matter of the industry being taken more seriously by both Web companies and also clients so that margins can increase and talent can be afforded. In its present form, the industry is loaded with poorly paid production staff and overpaid suits who are selling poor-mediocre quality work to naive clients. Which is why it's great to see companies like Spoilt Child, Metronet and gravitate being run by designers, developers and/or people passionate about the industry.
If salaries increase, I feel it will actually work for Web companies and not against them! Just ask the advertising industry! One thing's for sure though, it's not an employers market anymore.