The Government has announced the creation of 470 jobs in the State following the completion of negotiations by IDA Ireland on three new investments totalling over €70 million.
The investments were announced yesterday by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney. All three involve the expansion of overseas companies already operating in the State.
Internet security firm Symantec Corporation, which already employs around 400 people in Blanchardstown in Dublin, has decided to expand its existing production facility following the consolidation of its European operations centre in Leiden, in the Netherlands. The relocation to Dublin will result in the creation of 250 jobs over three years.
However, a spokesman for Symantec said, while the jobs would be new to Ireland, around 50 staff would be transferring to the Republic from the Netherlands, which would mean just over 200 people would be hired to fill the remainder of the positions.
In Arklow, Co Wicklow, pharmaceutical company Servier is to treble the size of its production facility with the creation of 100 jobs as part of a €52 million investment backed by the IDA. The jobs will be created over the next five years. The company's expanded Irish operations will handle business transferred from the group's other locations as well as allowing the group introduce new products.
In Dundalk, data protection and network storage systems group, Quantum Corporation, is to create 120 jobs by the end of 2003.
Plans to create these jobs were announced by the group last month but a spokesman for Ms Harney insisted yesterday's announcement did not represent a reannouncement of the jobs. "The talks for these jobs have only just been concluded by the IDA so there is no way they could have been announced before. This is the first official announcement of these jobs," he said.
Ms Harney said the investments and resulting jobs would make a significant impact on their respective locations. "The investments are very much in keeping with the Government's policy of encouraging existing overseas companies to make further investments in order to enhance the value of their operations and allow them to offer high-quality employment."
