800 jobs to be created in retail, construction and pharmaceuticals

ALMOST 800 new jobs have been announced in the construction, retail and pharmaceutical industries.

In Dublin, Wellmed Ireland announced it was creating 120 pharmaceutical jobs after securing a contract with US firm Conrex Pharmaceuticals to market and distribute its Sesha skincare product range in Ireland.

The jobs will include the areas of medical/healthcare, pharmaceutical, beauty, sales and marketing.

In Cork, Marks & Spencer are to open a 15,000 square foot store in November in the Douglas Village Shopping Centre with the creation of 100 jobs.

The store will sell food, womenswear, accessories and lingerie. It will also feature an 80-seat cafe.

It will be the British retail giant’s second store in Cork and its 21st in the country.

In Kildare, more than 100 temporary, permanent and full-time positions were confirmed by the operators of the Kildare Village Outlet shopping complex.

The new roles will be created by existing and new boutiques and it is expected they will be in place by December.

“Four new brands are opening at Kildare Village, which will lead to over 60 new positions, of which 40% are full time,” the operators said. “Kildare Village plans to open other new brands before Christmas, and the existing brands are hiring additional staff in the lead-up to the busy Christmas period, during which another 45 positions will be created.”

Those interested in applying for positions can visit the careers section on www.kildarevillage.com for more information.

Finally, the Government yesterday confirmed that 450 construction jobs are to be created in a development project on the Grangegorman site in Dublin. More than 1,100 full-time jobs will be created on completion of the works.

The €486m project was formally announced by Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Tánaiste Mary Coughlan.

The go-ahead for the entire education, health and community project in the north inner city was announced in the Government’s revised capital spending plans earlier this year. But work is to begin within weeks on facilities to replace the existing psychiatric facilities on the site at Grangegorman.

When that project is completed in early 2012, the main work of building DIT’s new facilities will get under way, with all its constituent colleges due to relocate there eventually.

DIT currently has 20,000 students and 2,000 staff in 39 locations around the city, and the sale of those in state ownership will go towards the overall cost.

Speaking at the launch, the Taoiseach said: “This is a significant project in terms of generating jobs and providing a key piece of infrastructure for education to develop our knowledge economy.”

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