by Bernie English
IDA IRELAND has this week revealed record breaking results in direct inward investment, including plans for more than 400 Limerick jobs in a number of key announcements.
Among the new jobs referenced by the Industrial Development Authority were expansion plans by Edwards Lifesciences in Castletroy.
The US medical device company is to create an additional 250 jobs at its Limerick manufacturing site, bringing the total number to be employed there to 850.
An additional 100 people will be recruited by the Indigo Telecom Group for its International Fibre Centre of Excellence in Raheen Business Park.
Legato, the Health Service Provider, officially opened its R&D centre in the National Technology Park, with plans to add 60 skilled jobs to its operations, while OLED/PP will be embarking on a multi-million euro capital investment that is expected to create up to 100 high-tech jobs at a new Shannon manufacturing site.
There were 25,270 IDA supported jobs created in the Mid West Region in 2021, in comparison to 24,095 last year, an increase of 4.9 per cent.
And the prospects for 2022 are even brighter with the new National Advance Manufacturing Centre (AMC) on the Plassey Technology Park due for completion by the middle of the year.
A world class industry-led Centre of Excellence, it will enable Irish based FDI and indigenous manufacturers to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies into their factory floors and supply chains, allowing them to address challenges and drive competitiveness.
IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan said that the 2021 results were achieved in an immensely challenging and volatile international environment.
“Ireland’s performance in attracting FDI to achieve these record results is testament to the work of the IDA; to the success of the client companies that we partner with and to the support of Government.
“Despite the challenges faced by individual companies, FDI in Ireland has come through the pandemic relatively unscathed. This is largely down to the sectors that IDA has targeted over the past decade – Technology, Pharma, Medical Technology, International Financial Services, Business services, Engineering and Food – those sectors that underpin a modern economy,” Mr Shanahan explained.
