There was an employment boost for the country today as a leading forecourt retailer said it would create 300 jobs and 425 positions were confirmed at Stream Global Services.
Irish company Applegreen said it would create around 300 jobs after winning contracts to operate new motorway service stations in Dublin, Louth and Kildare.
The company is part of the SuperStop consortium, which was awarded a public private partnership contract by the National Roads Authority (NRA) to operate and maintain the service areas. The consortium also includes Top Oil and Pierse Contracting.
The positions, which will be both full and part-time, will be mainly in the food service area, with additional jobs in retail, cleaning and maintenance. A recruitment drive is already underway to fill the jobs.
The service areas, which are located at on the M1 at Lusk and Castlebellingham, and the M4 at Enfield, will include fuelling areas, cafes, rest areas, showers and playgrounds. They are due to open in September and October, beginning with the Lusk northbound station.
The project represents an investment of more than €70 million on behalf of the consortium.
The new jobs will take Applegreen's work force in Ireland to almost 1,000. The independent forecourt retailer, which was established in 2004, has 57 sites trading in the Republic and is currently building its network in the UK.
Separately, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe confirmed that business process outsourcing firm Stream is to create 425 high-quality jobs in Dublin over the next 12 months.
The jobs, which were reported by The Irish Times last month, will provide technical support across Europe in 16 languages for a leading manufacturer of video game consoles.
Stream Ireland Ltd will invest €2.5 million in a new centre in Swords, Co Dublin. The company, which currently mploys about 300 staff at its Santry offices, said the new service would be fully operational in the third quarter of this year. The contract is expected to generate more than €40.4 million ($50 million) a year in revenues.
Ground handling company Sky Handling Partner said today it had created 50 jobs at its Dublin airport base. The new jobs have been added over the past three months in check-in and aircraft service positions.
SHP now employs more than 300 people at Dublin and Shannon airports to over 300 people.
SHP is owned by French company Groupe Crit, which employs approximately 4,600 people worldwide.
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