A £21 million investment package is to create 250 new jobs at Procter & Gamble's plant in Nenagh. Co Tipperary. The investment, approved by the Cabinet yesterday, will bring employment at the plant to 600 people within the next year or so.

The additional employment is part of an international reorganisation of the group, which involved the closure of a plant in Wakefield in England. Earlier this year, the group signalled that this was likely to lead to additional employment in Nenagh.

The resulting new investment package was approved by the Cabinet yesterday. Recruitment of the 250 new jobs has already started, with about 100 of the jobs filled in recent months. Procter & Gamble in Nenagh is now confirmed as the group's European centre for skincare products.

Construction work on the extension of the existing facility is to start in about a fortnight, according to the Minister for Defence and local TD, Mr Smith, who announced the project.

Procter & Gamble is one of the world's largest companies, ranking 17th in the Fortune 500 list. It employs 110,000 people worldwide and has annual profits of around £2.8 billion on sales of £27.7 billion.

Early in the summer it announced a major international reorganisation designed to cut costs and restore it on a path to strong growth. Internationally this involves the loss of some 11,000 jobs.

It has been manufacturing in Nenagh since 1985, when it bought the Richardson Vicks factory and subsequently expanded with IDA support.

The group, whose history dates back to 1837, is involved in the production of detergents, paper products, beauty care products, consumer food, beverages and food ingredients.