There was an air of quiet elation in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, at the weekend in advance of this morning's expected announcement by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, of a major new industry to replace the computer giant, Seagate Technology.
A US medicare company, the Minnesota-based Guidant Corporation, will take over the vacant Seagate plant and provide more than 500 jobs in the manufacture of cardiac pacemakers.
The development will mean the south Tipperary town has bounced back from the devastation caused by the announcement just before Christmas that Seagate was closing with the loss of 1,400 jobs.
The combined efforts of local and State agencies and the priority given by the Tanaiste to replacement employment in Clonmel have paid off at several levels.
The town and its hinterland have emerged from the shadow of Seagate with a new resilience and solid prospects of development.
Even before Seagate finally ceased operations in February intensive efforts were under way by the IDA, FAS and the task force set up by Ms Harney to minimise the impact of the single biggest industrial collapse of recent years and to find a replacement industry.
In April Ms Harney was able to announce Cabinet approval for a 200-job, £17.7 million expansion of Clonmel Healthcare. Over half of the jobs will be for third-level graduates.
Other existing industries in the south-east also responded to the crisis. In May the Stafford-Miller plant in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, which makes dental care products, announced a £15 million expansion, which will create 180 jobs, and the Continental Promotion Group began recruiting 60 extra workers for its data entry and promotion fulfilment operation in Tipperary town. Near Clonmel, the Merck Sharp and Dohme pharmaceutical plant is recruiting about 50 more workers.
The first sod has been turned on the site for a business Innovation and Technology Park in Clonmel itself. Up to £200,000 of State funding has been allocated to this venture, which is intended to help former Seagate employees and others who want to start their own businesses. The enterprise units and back-up facilities are expected to provide up to 200 jobs.
But the big prize, to be revealed today, is a major new high-tech investor for the Seagate facility. In the months since the Seagate collapse the IDA has combed the US market, in particular, for prospective investors and facilitated inspection of the prime, 55-acre site by representatives of up to 12 companies.
After negotiations in recent weeks Guidant is understood to have purchased the facility from Seagate. It includes an air-conditioned manufacturing area, state-of-the-art cleanrooms and quality office and restaurant facilities, and there is ample space for expansion of the plant.
Many former Seagate workers have been recruited by other computer industries in the region and elsewhere, but there are still several hundred redundant employees and these, along with new school-leavers and graduates, will be seeking work in the new facility.
The Seagate employees' representative on the task force, Ms Philomena Walsh, says the training and advisory support system co-ordinated by FAS since the closure has greatly enhanced the employment prospects for the redundant workers. Along with 180 others, she has just completed a computer information and technology course.
She says the Seagate collapse has strengthened Clonmel and triggered a cohesive and positive approach to future development. "They have got organised and realised that you can't have all your eggs in one basket. It has encouraged a lot of development in the town and prompted local industries to look at their potential for expanding employment."
Clonmel's new mayor, Ms Vera Hewitt, says everybody is waiting with anticipation for today's announcement.
The positive attitude adopted after the Seagate closure was a vital factor, she added. "After the initial shock there was not at any stage an air of gloom and doom. Great credit is due to the Seagate workers - if they didn't get jobs they went into training courses."
Local TD and Minister of State, Mr Noel Davern, says the town's response to the blow was of great importance and assistance to the IDA in its efforts to secure a replacement industry.
The search had deliberately focused on finding a non-computer industry to replace Seagate, and the industrial base of south Tipperary could now be seen in a different light. It is now underpinned by large companies in the medicare and pharmaceutical fields.
The research carried out by the task force on age profiles, skills and training needs had been of central importance and had extended to all of Co Tipperary. Also crucial had been the broad representation on the task force, chaired by Mr Ned Gleeson, county manager of Tipperary South Riding. It included executives of local industries as well as representatives of SIPTU, FAS, Forbairt, the IDA, Tipperary Rural Business Development Institute, Clonmel Chamber of Commerce and a Seagate worker representative.
The economic prospects for Clonmel and south Tipperary are now bright, although fresh challenges are looming. "This was a farming county," says Mr Davern. "It didn't need industry. Now it does, and it needs tourism as well."
The replacement company is a world leader in the manufacture of pacemakers and other cardiac products. Last year it entered a strategic alliance with Micro Therapeutics of California, which markets minimally invasive solutions to vascular disease, to distribute its technology in Europe. This is understood to be Guidant's first manufacturing investment outside the US and as such is a feather in the cap of the IDA for its efforts to expand international industrial investment in this State.