Boston Scientific expects to be in production in an advance factory site in Cork next January, a senior executive says. Mr Bob Maclean, senior vicepresident, human resources, said the firm's target for the city was to have at least 200 employees by the end of 1998, leading to a total of 1,000 on the payroll within five years.
The company expected that 30 per cent would be recruited from graduate level positions, he said.
The new Cork facility will play an integral part in the manufacture for Boston Scientific of its neuroradiology business in the treatment and diagnosis of brain disease systems. The Cork plant will manufacture a specialised range of medical devices for both the European and the Asian markets.
Mr Maclean said the Cork facility - which will involve an investment of £38 million - would be built using an existing factory site but would also include a new custom-built factory at the Model Farm Road site. He said the company expected to recruit some 200 people by Christmas and the first products would be available from the Model Farm Road site by January.
The availability of skilled and semi-skilled graduates in Cork city was a huge influence, he said, in the company's decision to locate there. Mr Maclean said Cork would manufacture its specialised range of products in an environment that could tap into highlyskilled labour - from University College Cork as well as the Cork Institute of Technology.
The elevation of the Cork Regional Technical College to institute status was another factor which persuaded the company that Cork would be a good location.
The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, who said he had been asked by the Taoiseach to officiate at yesterday's announcement, said it was a historic day for the city.
Mr Martin said he was proud of the role played by the IDA in attracting the company to Cork and proud of the role played by the local educational establishments, which had made the city so attractive to foreign investment.
Cork, he added, so far had been highly successful in attracting the pharmaceutical and electronics sector but, with the arrival of Boston Scientific, a third strand - the health care sector - had now also come to believe in Cork.
The Minister said that within five years the company would create 1,000 jobs and, perhaps, as many more down the line. Boston Scientific had made a vote of confidence in the education and infrastructure of the city. This was a measure of how focused the two major academic institutions in Cork were in bringing business to the city.