Two firms have given Cork an employment boost with 200 jobs announced at the Kepak meat processing plant and the Voxpro call centre provider.
Some 100 new jobs were been announced by Kepak Cork at its consumer food facility in Watergrasshill.
The meat processing company said it had already created 60 of those jobs and another 40 would follow next year. The announcement was made by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney when he visited the plant.
The facility already employs almost 600 people in meat processing and consumer foods marketing. Kepak said the new jobs were as a result of on-going innovation, growth and investment. Its core business involves the portioning and packing of chilled meat packs for the Musgrave Group's SuperValu and Centra stores.
More than 400 people work in this business unit.
Kepak Cork employs another 150 people in a business unit which processes a range of 'slow cooked' own label and branded consumer meats, as well as the Big Al's branded burger range.
The slow-cooked business has a €40 million turnover and is selling 17 million consumer-ready retail meat packs a year.
Total sales of the slow cooked range are projected to reach about 50 million next year. Kepak has a 38 per cent share of this new market in the UK.
The facility also processes 6,000 tonnes of frozen beef burgers every year, marketed under the Big Al's brand, as well as a range of retailer own-label and food service burgers for the domestic and export markets.
Kepak Group's managing director John Horgan said the company's Cork plant was now one of the largest employers in the east Cork area.
"We are investing in the site to ensure it remains best-in-class and to expand the production capability to service a growing consumer demand for slow cooked meats," he said.
Mr Horgan said it was contributing about €200m annually to the local economy in Cork, when the purchasing of livestock and other raw materials was taken into account.
Separately call centre jobs at Voxpro were announced by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Mr Kenny said call centre provider already started filling its 100 positions.
Voxpro is recruiting multilingual, technical positions that will see its work force increase to 330 within the next three months.
Mr Kenny said the jobs announcement, supported by Enterprise Ireland, is great news for Cork and the local economy.
"The Government is transforming Ireland into a competitive, enterprise-focused economy which is helping companies like Voxpro to expand and grow," he said.
When Dan Kiely, chief executive, set up the indigenous company 14 years ago with his wife Linda they employed six people.
"Today, we are Ireland's leading provider of 24/7 technical customer management in business process outsourcing, operating in 12 languages to over 300 indigenous and global organisations, and we continue to expand at a rapid pace," Mr Kiely said.
It manages a number of large-scale contracts for national and international organisations, including one of the world's top search engine providers, sixteen county councils, a number of Irish hospitals and health care providers and some of the largest NGOs.
Meanwhile, trade union Siptu condemned the way in which workers at Curragh Carpets in Newbridge, Co Kildare, were told the company was to close with 60 job losses.
It claimed staff were called to a meeting at noon, where they were briefed by a liquidator and told to leave the premises.
Siptu organiser Miriam Hamilton said generations of families have worked at the
facility which has been in operation for more than 70 years.
"The closure of this long-established manufacturing plant has left the workers
and their families in a state of shock," she said.
Additional reporting PA
