Canadian communications equipment group Nortel Networks is to announce 60 new research posts at its Irish base in Galway.

The new positions, which will be announced by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin, will be filled over the next three years.

In a separate initiative, the Minister is to announce a €6 million research programme at NUI Galway on new treatments for bone and joint diseases, using stem cell therapy.

Nortel Ireland, which was established as a manufacturing base in Galway in 1973, has moved into research and development, international finance and sales and support.

It employs some 225 people in Galway, and has a global workforce of almost 34,000.

Meanwhile, business leaders attending today's announcements may lobby the Minister over the Government's stance on the loss of Aer Lingus's Shannon-Heathrow slots.

Last week, Mr Martin's Cabinet colleague, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív said "negative campaigning" over the loss of the air link was selling the midwest region "short".

Mr Ó Cuív urged business leaders to stop "wasting time" on "what might have been" and to plan for the future.

Dr Chris Coughlan, Chambers Ireland deputy president and senior executive in a leading multinational in Galway, said Mr Ó Cuív had presented an "arrogant, ill-informed and simplistic analysis" of the situation.

"There is a wider context for this, which is the Government's €3 billion underspend in the Border, midland and western region," Dr Coughlan said.

"Many business leaders like myself put in our own time to tell prospective IDA clients how wonderful the west is, but we might as well not bother when Mr Ó Cuív comes out with a statement like this," he said.

Business leaders in the region faced a constant battle to retain jobs and the air link was vital to this, he added. The Government had failed to ensure balanced regional development, Dr Coughlan said.