New scheme brings gas to the midlands

The Junior Public Enterprise Minister, Joe Jacobs has signed a £70m contract this evening as part of a major new infrastructure project that will eventually supply natural gas to the midlands and the west of Ireland.

The project will include the construction of a 320km-long pipeline, beginning in March 2002, which will create 600 jobs.

Minister Jacobs says that extension of the gas network will benefit thousands of Irish people who had previously been without gas in the midlands, Galway and Limerick.