Task force plans 1,000 jobs by 2008

A TASK force behind one of the country’s most successful regional business and technology parks announced plans yesterday for a challenging target of 1,000 new jobs by 2008.

The jobs initiative at the Clonakilty park will be channelled through a new programme, West Cork Works, launched by Enterprise and Employment Minister Micheál Martin.

In a separate announcement, linked to the park, the Minister also announced a planned expansion of the SWS Group, which envisages the creation of 226 jobs over the next three years.

Currently employing 300 permanent and 230 part-time workers, the SWS Group owned by five dairy co-operatives aims to strengthen its business process outsourcing (BPO) division from 145 staff to 371.

Supported by Enterprise Ireland, the SWS Group, which transformed itself over the past seven years from primarily an agri-services provider to higher value added services, is determined to become an international leader in BPO.

Business development manager Jim Costello said the jobs announcement represented a major push by the SWS Group into the export development markets.

Chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, Frank Ryan, said the SWS strategy was an example of the transformational change that must be accelerated in Irish companies to ensure future regional and national economic growth.

Meanwhile, the West Cork Works initiative is expected to enhance and reinforce the high profile of the Clonakilty centre where 10 existing US, British and Irish companies provide upwards of 420 jobs in a diverse range of activities including finance, human resources, telecommunications, IT support and software development.

The new programme is a collaborative venture between the companies currently in the park, the West Cork Technology Task Force that oversees the park's development, and the West Cork Leader Co-operative.

Task force chairman Dan MacSweeney said the primary objective was to raise awareness of the success of the centre, the current and future job opportunities.

A critical factor in achieving the aims of West Cork Works, he said, was the availability of skilled employees in the area.

The park's marketing director John Connolly said: "The message we want to get out is that we have created many high-quality jobs, there will be many more in the future and what better place is there to consider living and working in than West Cork.

"We have no intention of sitting back and waiting for things to happen."

Minister Martin commended the task force for its foresight.

www.westcorkworks.ie