ELECTRONICS multinational Intel received more than £26 million in IDA Ireland grants last year, new figures have shown. Seagate Technology in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, got almost £10 million.

Hewlett Packard got the third highest amount of grant aid at £8.6 million while Boston Scientific got £6.8 million. Motorola received £5.2 million in state aid.

IDA Ireland does not release individual grant aid figures unless specifically requested. The agency said that last year the grant aid per job, at an average of £11,920, was the low est in its history.

Some companies got higher grant aid than others, although the IDA declined to be drawn on the level of aid. Hewlett Packard, for example, was one such company.

It plans to employ 2,000 people manufacturing inkjet cartridges at its plant in Leixlip, Co Kildare. Recently it announced a further 1,000 jobs and another 800 jobs for a wafer manufacturing plant are understood to be under negotiation.

All the aforementioned companies are major employers. Seagate is the world's biggest manufacturer of hard disk drives for computers. It recently announced a project for 1,000 jobs at Ringaskiddy, Co Cork. It already employs 1,400 people in Clonmel.