The Government will today make the biggest jobs announcement so far this year, unveiling a £40 million investment by a US medical instruments manufacturer. Boston Scientific will employ 1,050 employees for a new factory in Cork, and hire 1,000 more at its existing Galway plant. The development represents a coup for IDA Ireland, which has been under pressure to produce jobs outside the Dublin area. Last weekend, the agency backed a new project by Oxford Health Plans, another US firm, which will bring 500 new insurance-processing jobs to Mullingar.
The decision by Boston Scientific to invest in a "green field" facility in Cork is being seen as particularly significant. The move, which accounts for almost all of the £40 million investment figure, will not only boost employment in the area, but confidence too, the IDA believes.
Investment by Boston Scientific in Galway has already reached £60 million, and the company now employs 1,500 people at its plant in Ballybrit. The planned expansion will bring the firm's Irish payroll to 3,500, and total investment to £100 million.
It is also understood the US firm has included in its plans a blueprint to employ at least another 1,000 people if the Cork project fulfils its expectations.
The investment is the largest to date by a healthcare company in Ireland, and the biggest project sponsored this year by the IDA. Sources in the IDA say they are particularly happy with the development because the company is now the world leader in the manufacture of medical instruments, a booming area in an otherwise consolidating heathcare industry.
"You can be sure there was intense competition for this project, and it shows that Ireland can still retain its position in sectors other than electronics," one source said.
The new jobs underscore the IDA's success in persuading overseas companies to invest outside of Dublin. In March, the then Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, asked the IDA to "re-examine its mandate" in order to generate more investment outside the capital. Since then, it is understood that the agency has operated a policy of "affirmative action", offering significantly higher grants to companies that bypass Dublin.
In the past, there has been sustained criticism of the IDA by the Western Development Partnership Board and others, who were concerned that the authority had moved away from its policy of dispersing jobs as widely as possible.
Boston Scientific first established itself in Galway in 1994 with a £15 million investment and moved to Ballybrit industrial estate beside the Digital plant, which later transferred its hardware division out of Galway.
However, today's announcement is likely to add to difficulties in current negotiations with the EU Commission on the future of Ireland's corporation tax regime, which is seen as a giving an unfair advantage.
In 1996, Boston Scientific closed its Belgian plant at Petit Rechain and moved the 273 jobs to Galway with EU-permitted incentives. This caused political problems in Belgium which are now likely to appear on the wider EU stage. The loss of Belgian jobs was seen as proving that EU funds were being abused to poach jobs from one EU country to another.