In further good news on the jobs front, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, has announced another 1,022 new jobs are to be created in Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Kerry. The announcement is the second substantial jobs boost in as many weeks, and follows news of 2,050 jobs for Cork and Dublin as part of a £40 million investment by the US medical instruments manufacturer, Boston Scientific.
The new jobs announced yesterday will be created in five companies with the support of IDA Ireland. These include the Cork-based EMC corporation, which manufactures data storage products. It is to create some 520 new jobs as part of a major expansion of its manufacturing plant at Ovens. The expansion will almost double the size of its Irish operations.
The other jobs will be provided by four new companies which have decided to establish an Irish division. Among these is the world's largest airline, United Airlines, which is to open a new passenger reservations centre for its entire Atlantic division business in Dublin that will employ 250 people.
A further 150 jobs will be created by Netherlands-based AND International Publishers group, a software development and publishing company in Galway. Most of these jobs will be for people with data processing skills, who will undergo specialised computer map reading and specific computer skills training.
Another 55 jobs are earmarked for Cork, where the US group, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, is to establish a semiconductor design centre. Cypress currently employs a number of Irish graduates at its operation in San Jose in California and is particularly interested in recruiting people with a background in mixed signal circuit design.
Meanwhile, 47 new jobs will be created by RKT GMBH in Tralee, Co Kerry, as part of a £2.5 million investment in a toolmaking factory in the town. This will be particularly welcome, following the recent closure of Klopman in the town. An Inter-Agency Group is currently working to find replacement industries for the area.
Making the announcement yesterday, Ms Harney said she was particularly pleased to see the Government's policy of regional industrial development and job dispersal to the fore. "This will be a continuing theme of my Ministry as we push for more and more industry in regional locations that so badly need investment and job opportunities."
She added that the quality of skilled people in the regions is now on a par with that available in the bigger locations and on the east coast.
About 75 per cent of the new jobs are expected to be filled by graduates from the various Regional Technical Colleges and universities. The bulk of these will be employed by EMC in Cork, from where it operates European finance and customer support divisions, and a group centre for research related to reliability testing.
EMC established in Cork in 1988 to manufacture IBM-compatible data storage products and currently employs 470 people. EMC is a Fortune 500 company with a turnover of £1.52 billion and net profits of £257 million in 1996.
