A US medical technology company plans to take on 230 additional staff at its Galway base over the next five years, writes Lorna Siggins in Galway.
Merit Medical Systems Inc, which makes devices used to diagnose and treat heart disease, intends to invest €9.3 million in expanding its research, development and manufacturing activities in Galway with support from IDA Ireland.
The company currently employs 170 people at its base in Parkmore Business Park West.
At least 20 per cent of the new jobs will be assigned to third-level graduates, the firm said yesterday.
Construction is also under way to extend the company's premises from 27,000 sq ft to 67,000 sq ft.
Merit Medical Systems Inc, which has its headquarters at Salt Lake City, Utah, was established in 1987 and employs 1,200 people worldwide.
Last year it reported sales of $136 million, and profits before tax of $27 million.
It opened its Galway base in 1996, and also has manufacturing plants in Utah, California and Texas.
The company has made over 2,000 products that help doctors and other healthcare professionals to perform interventional and diagnostic procedures.
These include catheters, guidewires, needles, safety products and drug infusion devices.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said the announcement represented a "significant endorsement of the Galway facility" and would "further enhance its value and strategic importance within its parent group".
Merit's investment would also "further enhance the reputation of the region as a 'cluster' location for global medical technology companies", she said.
"This investment is an indication of Ireland's continuing attractiveness as a location for the development of high-level R&D and new core products," she added.
The Galway base is regarded as the company's pioneer centre for the development of guidewire technologies, and is the principal site for the manufacture of its inflation devices, which are non-invasive instruments used in angioplasty cardiology procedures.
Under the expansion plan, the plant will also be designated as a "centre for excellence" for some of Merit's new products and technologies, Ms Harney said.
Mr Fred Lampropoulos, chief executive of Merit Medical Systems Inc, said that major factors in implementing the new investment included his company's high level of satisfaction with the Galway base's "ability to take on new challenges".
Staff at the information technology company, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, in Limerick were told yesterday that the firm, which provided software development and maintenance services to clients in the US, would cease its entire Irish operation with the loss of 50 jobs.