US-based Micros Systems, a leading supplier of information systems for the hospitality industry, will create 180 jobs in its new Galway plant over the next five years.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said yesterday Galway was chosen for its "ability to attract multilingual staff, people with experience in the hospitality industry and the availability of graduates from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology".
Ms Harney added that the project, which is supported by IDA Ireland, was in line with its strategy "to win top-quality projects from leading companies".
The new centre will house the technical support, administration and treasury operations of Micros in the Republic and is part of the company's global strategy to establish regional offices. It will provide support to Irish, British, European, Middle East and African-based customers.
"The service will include addressing customer inquiries on operational and technical issues and accessing the customers' systems via modem communication," said Ms Harney.
The IDA regional manager, Mr Frank Conlon, welcomed the announcement and said Micros was an "excellent fit for what we want to achieve" and "is a tremendous vote of confidence in Galway and the west".
"We can lever off it for the rest of the region and further develop other industrial areas like Ballina and Castlebar," he added.
This announcement comes one week after 400 jobs were created by Medtronic, another US multinational in Galway, which is also located in Parkmore Business Park West, on the outskirts of Galway city. This brought to 1,700 the number of people employed by Medtronic at its plant, enhancing the medical device industry, which already has a strong presence in the city.
Micros Systems's existing Irish office currently employs seven people, which is expected to grow to 35 in the next few weeks.
It recently introduced its hotel enterprise management system, Opera, and the increased number of staff in the Irish base will support this new technology.
With its headquarters in Maryland in the US, Micros Systems employs more than 2,500 people worldwide and has installed more than 20,000 systems in 130 countries.
The company announced sales of more than $325 million (€327.5 million) for the year to the end of June 2001.
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