Firms' expansion yields 400 jobs

HUNDREDS of jobs are in the pipeline for Longford, Sligo and Kildare, but 25 people are to lose their jobs in Clare.

The new Abbott Diagnostics facilities in Longford and Sligo were opened yesterday at a ceremony attended by Tánaiste Mary Harney.

The development is part of Abbott's €230 million expansion plan in Europe, which has already created 505 jobs in the north west, with more than 300 additional jobs planned before 2008.

As many as 80% of the new jobs will be for third-level graduates.

Home and garden retailer B&Q announced that it will open its seventh Irish store in Newhall Retail Park, Naas, Co Kildare, later this year, bringing the total number of jobs it has created in 2005 to 400.

The new 60,000 sq ft store in Naas will generate 100 jobs, with most of the positions expected to be filled by local people.

Recruitment campaigns are under way for new B&Q stores in Athlone and Limerick, creating a further 200 new jobs, and are due to open in September.

Last month, B&Q opened its first store in Munster, at Mahon Point in Cork.

However, Fine Gael small business spokesman Pat Breen has called on the Government to take action to prevent further job losses in Co Clare following news that electronic components maker Molex plans to lay off 25 staff at its plant in Shannon.

"These latest job losses mean that 230 jobs have been lost in Co Clare in the last few weeks alone. This represents one third of the total number of job losses in Clare in the last five years," he fumed.

Speaking in Longford, Ms Harney said the Abbott investment is a major vote of confidence to the workforce there and in Sligo and would be a major boost to both regions.

"Abbott is one of the largest healthcare employers in Ireland and works closely with IDA Ireland to maximise the benefits Ireland can offer for continued growth of the company," she said.

"We look forward to further strengthening our relationship with Abbott over the coming years," she added.

Speaking about B&Q's continued Irish expansion, director of Ireland operations Diarmuid Walsh said while they were pleased to have secured a prime location in Naas, due to the current cap on planning guidelines, they were disappointed they could not develop a slightly bigger store to accommodate a wider range of building materials and other bulky items.

Mr Walsh said: "We welcome the Government's recent review of the planning guidelines and the principles of the review, but it hasn't gone far enough for us in terms of making a real difference.

"We are not advocating a one-size-fits-all scenario.

"Our ideal solution would be to have the bigger warehouse stores, such as Liffey Valley, in large markets such as Dublin and Cork and perhaps Galway and Limerick," he added.