Oakley, the high-quality US eyewear, footwear and accessories company, will create 100 new jobs in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, over the next five years. The US group is already fitting out a 10,000 sq ft facility in the town and recruitment has begun.
The new facility will produce high-quality prescription spectacles for the European market.
It follows a similar move by Oakley in the US in 2001, when it established a prescription facility at its Foothill Ranch headquarters in California. Previously the production was outsourced to specialist US and European firms.
Most of the new jobs will be high-skilled positions. The project is being backed by IDA Ireland. Yesterday's announcement brings to 1,100 the number of IDA-backed jobs announced in September.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, said the facility would be welcomed in Mullingar. "This is great news for Mullingar as Oakley is a technology leader in performance eyewear with a global brand," she said.
Oakley's programme manager of prescription eyewear, Ms Becky Wilson, said the company had chosen to locate in Mullingar because of the highly skilled workforce and favourable business climate found in Ireland.
"The technological complexity of Oakley lenses and frames requires intense attention to detail and quality," she said.
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