Tag Archives: jobs

US company Edwards Lifesciences Corportation has announced plans to employ 600 people in the Mid West, with 60 to be hired this year in Shannon. A global leader in medical innovations for structural heart disease and surgical monitoring, the company has chosen the Mid West as the site for a new plant to manufacture delivery components for its transcatheter heart valve therapies. It expects to begin hiring new employees in Shannon by June, in roles such as production staff, engineering and professional management. The company plans to have completed a new purpose built manufacturing facility in the Mid West in 2020. Once operational 600 people are to be employed. “On behalf of everyone in the Mid West I would like to warmly welcome Edwards Lifesciences to the region. Their presence here serves to highlight the attractiveness of the region as a destination for progressive, innovation-driven companies,” said Minister of State Pat Breen.

More than 50,000 jobs have been created in the construction industry since the lowest point of the recession in 2013. CSO figures, released this week,indicate that industry has hired approximately 1,000 people per month in this period. It is expected that one in 16 people in the economy will be employed in construction by 2019 as the industry enters a sustained growth phase. The construction sector has an important role to play in the continued recovery of the economy, according to Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation, Heather Humphreys. “I welcome the news that over 50,000 jobs have been created in the construction industry since 2013, and that it is entering a sustained growth phase. It also builds on the positive announcement from the CSO that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2018 was 6.1%, down from 6.2% in December 2017, and a peak of 15.1% in February 2012,” she said. Tom Parlon, CIF director general, said, “The growth …

JAGUAR Land Rover has confirmed it will open a software engineering centre, creating 150 jobs in Shannon this year. In conjunction with Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering team in the UK, the Shannon facility will be working on electric and automated driving vehicles. It will develop new technologies to support electrification and self-driving features on future Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles. Nick Rogers, Executive Director of Product Engineering for Jaguar Land Rover said: “Technical innovation lies at the heart of Jaguar Land Rover and our innovation is continuous. The new facility provides an exciting opportunity for us to pioneer future autonomous and electrification technologies.” While it is thought that Brexit is a major factor in securing the jobs for Shannon, he claimed that it is still committed to its UK operations.“The heart of our business will always be in the UK. The creation of a team in Shannon strengthens our international engineering capabilities and complements our existing team of more than …

BECKMAN Coulter, based in Lismeehan, O’Callaghan’s Mills is to create 70 jobs over the next two to three years as it just announced expansion plans today. Beckman Coulter develops, manufactures and markets products that simplify, automate and innovate complex biomedical testing and has revealed it is expanding the company’s development and manufacturing facility at Lismeehan. The project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland. The company’s 9,700 sq. metre site at Lismeehan in County Clare is a strategic site for the global Beckman Coulter Diagnostics business, with 330 people working there. Work carried out currently on the site includes the development, manufacture and support of reagents (mixtures for use in chemical analysis) for clinical chemistry, immunochemistry and haematology product lines. The expansion will provide capacity for two new product streams at the Clare site, and will also provide for the ongoing growth of the current product streams. The new expansion will add an additional 6,700sq. meters to the …

A GORT company has been given permission for a large extension to its premises, which will result in 75 new jobs. Natus Manufacturing Limited, located at the IDA Park in the town, received planning permission for works with a gross floor space of 2,239m2. Their existing premises measure 3,800m2. While there are only 33 car parking spaces there at present, this is to increase to 90. The application says they are looking to construct a commercial unit for storage and distribution, which will be an extension to the existing manufacturing unit. Planning was granted, subject to 16 conditions, one of which was that, prior to the commencement of development, the applicant pay a development contribution of €31,346. Local Councillor Gerry Finnerty said, “There will be 75 more jobs; at the moment, there are 125 employed in it. The planning permission means a big increase in the size of the factory. Construction will start early in the new year and that …

Clare companies are taking up opportunities for training and up-skilling of staff to meet business needs, helping with such issues as Brexit. Figugures from the annual report of Skillnets, the national agency responsible for funding and supporting over 60 learning networks nationwide, reveal that the number of businesses accessing subsidised training in Clare grew by 42%, with over 565 businesses investing in their staff across a range of sectors. Across Ireland, over 14,000 businesses are investing in their staff across a range of sectors. Ninety-two percent of the member companies that benefited from investment in training through Skillnets in 2016 were SMEs. “The development and retention of skilled talent is critical to the competitiveness and growth of the Irish economy and to the firms that underpin it” according to Skillnets chairman, Brendan McGinty. “2016 was a positive year for Skillnets, €25.9m was invested in learning and development through Skillnets networks with member companies committing €12.8m, and a co-investment from Skillnets …

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald has welcomed the monthly unemployment figures for June published by the Central Statistics Office, showing that the official unemployment rate has fallen from 6.4% in May to 6.3% in June and from 8.3% in June 2016. The statistics also show: On a seasonally adjusted basis 900 fewer people were unemployed in June compared to May 42,100 fewer people were unemployed in June compared with twelve months earlier Commenting on the figures the Tánaiste said, “Once again we are seeing the unemployment rate going in the right direction, with the unemployment rate at 6.3% and a decrease from 8.3% this time last year. It is heartening to see the unemployment rate continuing to decline and we are moving closer to full employment. As Minister for Enterprise and Innovation, I will continue with the Government policies that have proven successful in creating the right environment for continued job growth right across the …

  Irish Raw Chocolate Business Magic Mayan has expanded its sales into Northern Ireland and is growing in size following owner Darren O’Connor’s appearance on RTE’s Dragon’s Den last night (Sunday, April 30). While the county Clare family business did not secure an investment from the five dragons, in the days after filming Magic Mayan signed a contract to export its chocolate and protein bombs into the UK via Northern Ireland. Employing five people and with plans to expand the workforce and production of chocolate and protein bombs even further in the coming months, the artisan raw chocolate business based in Ennis continues to grow. “We are currently selling 35,000 protein bombs a month and more than 1,000 bars of hand made chocolate each week through our Irish distributers, and online,” explained Darren, who took over Magic Mayan two years ago with his wife Sinéad. “The protein bomb market is growing at a huge rate internationally as people are becoming …