There was a broad welcome here yesterday for the announcement that 435 jobs are to be created in Co Offaly, the majority of them in the county town, Tullamore, where unemployment levels are twice the national average.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, announced the package, the main element of which involves the creation of 300 jobs by LMS Beach Inc. It will manufacture and supply components for the electronics industry over the next three years at the Atlantic Mills plant in the town.
He also revealed that Continental AG would establish a Shared Services Centre in the town which would create 100 jobs in credit management, purchasing ledger and accounting functions for its distribution and retail sales network for Britain.
The third plant will be in Edenderry where Sanirish will manufacture small motors for incorporation into Sanirish Industry's pumps, jacuzzis and macerators. Some 35 jobs have been promised.
Mr Cowen said the LMS Beach facility will be a strategic centre for the company. The majority of the jobs will be for production staff in metal stamping, injection moulding and other engineering activities.
He added that IDA Ireland was in negotiation with private developers regarding the provision of a 20,000 sq ft advance factory for Tullamore.
Mr Michael Byrne, chairman of Offaly Enterprise Board, said he was delighted at the announcement because unemployment in the county had shown a persistent reluctance to decrease.
The county had suffered greatly from the layoffs at ESB and Bord na Mona and the new jobs would help balance the damage created by those losses, he said.
Senator Pat Gallagher, chairman of Tullamore Town Commissioners, welcomed the announcement of the jobs, which would help offset the loss of the Atlantic Mills plant which at one stage employed 400 people.
Tullamore Chamber of Commerce welcomed the developments and said the fact that some of them were high-tech jobs was of great significance. Its spokesperson praised the work of the County Enterprise Board and LEADER 11 in securing the jobs.
The secretary of the Co Offaly branch of SIPTU, Mr Seamus Buggle, said Offaly now needed more infrastructure to attract employment to the area.
