Firm plans to create 800 jobs

Eight hundred green jobs could be created across Ireland in the next three years, a Fermanagh-based firm pledged today.

The Quinn Group revealed it hopes to provide the economic boost through its planned recycling and insulation projects, packaging operations and initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint north and south.

"Over the next few years it is the ambition of Quinn Group to further boost employment throughout Ireland north and south by generating an additional 800 jobs," she said.

"This will be achieved through expanding existing enterprises and investing in new (enterprises)."

It is one of the largest companies in Ireland with involvement in insurance, glass, cement and the leisure sector.

It owns several manufacturing sites in Derrylin, Fermanagh, close to the area where founder Sean Quinn grew up and lives.

The group is producing annual profits of between €400m and €500m whilst employing 5,500 people in Ireland.

It will contribute around €140m to the Irish Exchequer in 2009.

The spokeswoman added: "The group's export-based model has shielded it from the worst effects of the recession in Ireland."