Investments will create 350 new jobs

MORE than 350 new jobs, are to be created as a result of separate investments in Dublin and Kerry worth £9 million.

Meanwhile, 210 jobs are expected to be saved as a result of a passport for investment deal at the troubled Kerry Fashions plant.

The Japanese company Alps Electric, backed by IDA Ireland, is investing £5 million in an electronics plant in Killarney, which will create more than 250 new jobs. German company GEA is to expand in Dublin with a £4 million investment expected to lead to 100 new jobs.

Alps already has a plant in Millstreet, Co Cork, which employs more than 200 in the production of flexible disc drives, mouses and input devices for the personal computer industry.

The new plant will produce a range of switches, climate control units and other products for European car manufacturers such as BMW, Saab, Volvo and Rover. The products in question are currently being supplied directly from Japan.

The deal for the new Alps investment was signed in Tokyo yesterday by the company's director and general manager, Mr Suetomo Kameoka, IDA Ireland chief executive, Mr Kieran McGowan and the Minister for Enterprise and Employment Mr Richard Bruton.

Alps, which is one of the world's leading manufacturers of electronic components, has an annual turnover of £2.4 billion.

The Alps investment came as up to 210 jobs were saved in the troubled Kerry Fashions company in Tralee. A rescue package, which involves a £1 million investment by an unnamed African businessman, has been agreed by the new investor and the company's shareholders.

Kerry Fashions employs 220 people but the company laid off 210 staff last December when it ran into serious cash flow problems. The new investment was welcomed by SIPTU, the main union at the company.

Shannon Development, which is a shareholder in Kerry Fashions, said the deal would "facilitate the resumption of production and employment at the Tralee plant".

In Dublin, the German company GEA, which already has a subsidiary in Ireland, announced that it was to create 100 new jobs in a £4 million investment at the CityWest businesspark on the Naas Road. The new jobs, which will be mainly for software and process engineering graduates, will be created over the next five years.

The 70 existing staff at the GEA subsidiary, Tuchenhagen in Sandyford, Co Dublin, will move to the new plant.

GEA, which was established in 1920, employs 18,000 people and had a turnover of £1.7 billion last year. The company claims to be a world leader in energy, environmental and process technology for the food, brewing, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Over the past five years, GEA has doubled in size through a series of acquisitions, including the Tuchenhagen group, which led to the Irish operation being given a more central role.