UK fleet management firm to create 260 jobs in Donegal

A British company that manages fleets of vehicles for emergency, public and utility companies in the UK plans to create more than 260 new jobs in Co Donegal.

Reading-based AssetCo will establish a new "enterprise managed service centre" at Lisfannon on the Inishowen Peninsula.

The company will join with Enterprise Ireland to invest €5.2 million in the facility, which will initially employ 130 people. It will open at the start of next month, with AssetCo targeting more than 260 jobs within the next two to three years.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin described the announcement as "great news" for Donegal and Inishowen, which he said had been particularly badly hit by recent job losses.

Siptu estimates that 6,663 - including positions due to go at Fruit of the Loom and Hospira later this year - jobs have been lost in Donegal since 1997.

"AssetCo is a fine example of what can be achieved by people and agencies working together to make a positive difference in a regional development context," the Minister added.

John Shannon, group managing director of AssetCo, said the company had been working on the project with Enterprise Ireland and Fás for some months.

AssetCo has appointed Irish native Dermot McDermott as managing director. The company wants to use the new facility to create a "centre of excellence" for its sector. Employees working at AssetCo will use the latest technologies and communications infrastructure to improve productivity and efficiency for the company's clients in the UK. As well as managing fleets of vehicles, AssetCo designs, builds and manages specialist vehicles for clients such as the London Fire Authority and Scottish Water.

"The telecommunications infrastructure we have put in place is already leading-edge and will, through time, allow the entire business community in Lisfannon and Buncrana to benefit," Mr McDermott said.

The company plans to work with local third-level institutions to ensure the availability of suitably-skilled staff in the future.

"We have ambitious plans for growth," McDermott said.

Donegal Siptu representative Seán Reilly said the investment would not compensate for jobs lost in Donegal but he acknowledged it as "a move in the right direction".

"I welcome the jobs," said Mr Reilly, who hopes that workers who have lost their jobs could be retrained for AssetCo. But he added that the possible 260-plus new positions were "only a small sliver against what was lost".