THE American computing group Hewlett Packard is to begin recruiting staff for its £218 million expansion immediately. Hewlett Packard confirmed yesterday that it is to create 836 jobs in addition to the 1,150 new jobs announced last year.
The company said the new investment brings the total investment at its Leixlip site to £320 million.
Launching the new facility, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Richard Bruton, said the investment was a major strategic move and highlighted that overseas companies continued to be impressed with the competitiveness of the Irish economy.
Based on IDA Ireland's average cost per job, the agency would pay Hewlett Packard about £13.9 million in grants for the new jobs.
So far it has paid the company £6.7 million for the 400 jobs created to date. A large part of these payments go, towards training, as the agency picks up the entire cost of training in the first year. Capital grants are the other main component.
The new project would allow Hewlett Packard to manufacture the gold strip which runs along the top of its print cartridges in Dublin. The component is currently manufactured in Singapore.
The company has already employed 400 of the people needed for phase one of its development. The remaining employees would not be employed until 1999. Mr Dave Young, managing director of Hewlett Packard Manufacturing, also said the 600 people currently on the construction site at Leixlip would be needed until the turn of the century.
Mr Boyd Lyon, the company's materials manger, said the company will be looking for around 400 technicians and operators with second level education.
The remainder would be made up of engineers as well as administration staff, managers and supervisors, he said.
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