A US health care company today will announce plans to hire up to 500 more employees in Galway, boosting its payroll to over 1,000. The move, by the New Jersey-based CR Bard, comes just three months after a rival health care company, Boston Scientific, announced a 2,050-job expansion between its Galway and Cork plants.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, is travelling to Galway today to make the announcement. It is further evidence of the strategy being adopted by IDA Ireland to focus on attracting major jobs projects outside the Dublin region.
CR Bard's Galway operation has been a successful subsidiary for the US multinational and the latest move will involve significant further capital investment. In 1996, the company's chairman and chief executive, Mr William Longfield, described the Galway facility as "one of the fastest, if not the fastest, growing" of its world-wide operations, adding that he anticipated job numbers would grow rapidly.
The company has had an operation in Ireland since 1981. Eighteen months ago, it opened a £3.5 million research and development centre. That expansion, it said at the time, came as a result of the commitment of the plant's workforce, especially its willingness to adapt to making new products.
The firm has also stressed the cordial industrial relations atmosphere in Galway and the availability of high-quality graduates.
CR Bard is considered one of the leaders in the development of equipment for non-invasive surgery and medical treatment, particularly in cardiology and urology. Its products are designed to relieve blocked arteries, in many cases obviating the need for invasive and costly open-heart surgery.
They are also used to open clogged arteries in the heart, kidney or leg with the use catheters and ancillary equipment.
The Galway plant is geared for export markets, currently exporting to 57 countries, but mainly to the US, Japan, and mainland Europe.
A fortnight ago, the company said its net sales for 1997 were a record $1.214 billion (£860 million), compared to $1.194 billion in 1996. Net profits for last year totalled $73 million (£52 million).