Economy boost as 360 jobs created

UP TO 360 new jobs will be announced over the next few days, on top of the 500 that have been announced to date for the month of March.

In Galway, Minister for Enterprise Trade & Employment, Micheál Martin, is due to announce today 20 new jobs at Thermo King as part of a strategic investment backed by IDA Ireland.

Tomorrow, the minister is expected to outline details of significant projects in the south-east involving 270 jobs.

As the month draws to a close, 90 jobs, involving 70 at Portumna in a new food venture, are to be announced.

Today’s investment at Thermo King confirms the strategic importance of that operation to its holding company.

Ingersoll-Rand Irish Holdings is the company behind the refrigeration unit maker Thermo King, which employs a total of about 2,000 people in several subsidiaries. In 2006 total sales of €1.3 billion were achieved, up from just over €1bn in 2005. However, pre-tax profit fell by 14.5% — from €97.4 million to €85.1m.

Thermo King has significant Galway operations in transport refrigeration units.

The company paid a dividend of €50m to its parent firm last year, down from payments of €140m in 2005 and €130m in 2004.

Ingersoll-Rand Irish Holdings has six subsidiaries, including Thermo King Ireland, Thermo King European Manufacturing and Ingersoll-Rand International.