The Government and IDA Ireland expressed delight yesterday after an American healthcare company confirmed what they termed the biggest boost for jobs in the midlands for 20 years. While yesterday's announcement was for 500 new jobs, Oxford Health Plans is expected to have 750 people on its payroll in Mullingar within three years.
Visiting the town, the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said Oxford was a flagship company that would put Mullingar on the map as a quality location for business opportunities.
The company will operate a data processing centre, dealing with medical insurance claims from the United States. The Irish facility will process the more complex insurance claims, using outof-hours computer capacity from the company in the US.
Although Oxford's interest in establishing a base in Ireland was first reported in The Irish Times some weeks ago, and the firm was strongly encouraged by the IDA to look away from the Dublin area, the final decision to go ahead was not made until recently. It is understood that the US company's main concern was whether it could find enough of the right kind of employees in the midlands.
"There will be 80 jobs filled by the end of this year, and they'll get six or eight weeks training. The majority will be from the Mullingar area."
Meanwhile, IDA executives said they were monitoring a controversy in the Us which last week saw Oxford issue a profits warning.
On Monday last week, the company warned investors that a massive bookkeeping and computer problem would cause it to report a third-quarter loss. This prompted a drop in share price, with Bear Stearns, Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch and Prudential all downgrading the stock from buy to hold.
On Friday, lawyers filed a class action against Oxford on behalf of shareholders who purchased stock between November 1996 and October 1997, alleging the company and some directors and officers hid the facts.
Describing the issue as "short term", IDA insiders said they believed the company, which has annual revenues of £3 billion, was fundamentally strong. The Mullingar project, they added, was designed to address the very problems which had caused the write-off.
Oxford will report its third quarter results today.
