A US medical devices firm will create 185 jobs in a €4-million (£3.15 million) investment in Co Galway. Star Guide will establish a European manufacturing base alongside a research and development unit in Oranmore.

An additional 46 jobs will be created in Oughterard by Irish software company, Armon Group Ltd.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, who was in Oranmore yesterday to open Star Guide's new base, said that she was delighted to welcome one of the major suppliers to many of the world's leading medical device companies.

IDA Ireland supported the establishment of the company in Oranmore. Star Guide, based in Denver, Colorado, is a subsidiary of the UTI Corporation of Pennsylvania, US, and supplies to many of the world's leading minimally invasive medical device manufacturers such as Boston Scientific, Guidant and Medtronic.

Ms Harney noted that 80 companies, including 13 of the world's top 20 medical device companies, had significant operations here, making it one of the largest industry sectors with over 16,000 employees.

"The medical devices industry is one of the strongest industries in Ireland and it doesn't seem to have been adversely affected by the downturn in the United States," she said. She believed it was an industry with "great potential".

The Tanaiste also opened the new Galway Technology Centre in Mervue Business Park yesterday for the Galway Chamber of Commerce. The venture was set up in the aftermath of the 1994 closure of Digital. In February 1994 seven companies set up in the centre, employing 26 people. By 1995 it had doubled in size and currently there are 17 companies in the centre.

The jobs at Armon Group, formerly Clearview Solutions for Irish Business Ltd, were announced last night by the Minister for Science and Technology, Mr Noel Treacy. The company intends to create 60 jobs in Ireland over the next three years, 46 of which will be based in Oughterard, Co Galway, in a £1-million (€1.27 million) investment supported by Enterprise Ireland.