Expansion of Japanese firms will see 150 jobs for Ireland

JAPANESE firms are to create 150 jobs in Ireland — 100 in Cork and 50 in Dublin — Taoiseach Brian Cowen disclosed during a government trade mission in Japan.

Trend, a global leader in internet content security, is to grow its Cork-based Europe Middle East and Asia (EMEA) operations centre and expand its workforce, recruiting 100 people over the next three years. Gala, an online community firm is expanding its European HQ with the creation of 50 jobs

The Taoiseach also announced three research and development (R&D) investments — in automotive technology from Alps Electric, imaging techniques from Shimadzu and a combined investment from Sony, Toshiba and IBM researching the Cell Broadband Engine.