The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment last night announced two Japanese investments in Ireland which will create almost 150 jobs in Dublin and Limerick. This follows the announcement of a major Japanese investment in Tallaght worth 440 jobs.
IDA officials said the investments represented a new awareness by Japanese companies of the value of investing in the Republic, the only English-speaking State in the euro currency zone. Their global profile in information technology meant others would follow, they said.
After meeting in Tokyo the executive managing director of the TDK company, a world leader in the manufacture of electronic media and components, Ms Harney said it was planned to establish a European centre in Dublin which would create 100 jobs. The firm has agreed to invest some £6 million in Dublin to develop radio frequency technologies, especially for mobile phones, and to establish a pilot plant to develop new components. This "will provide some of the most challenging opportunities for Irish graduates to be at the forefront of telecommunications developments globally in the years ahead", she said.
TDK, which employs 30,000 people worldwide, will employ 47 highly skilled scientists. Ms Harney also announced approval for the setting up by Ophtecs Corporation, which manufactures contact lens cleaning solutions, of a new European facility at Shannon which will employ 49 people.
The chief executive of Shannon Development, Mr Paul Sheane, said the operation would involve an investment of £34.4 million.
Ms Harney, who is on a 10-day promotional tour of Japan, New Zealand and Australia, travelled yesterday by bullet train from Tokyo to Nagano, site of the last Winter Olympics, to mark the decision by Shinko Microelectronics to make the biggest investment in terms of jobs in Ireland.
The super-conductor package company will create 440 jobs in a £370 million expansion at Tallaght in the Tanaiste's constituency. The Shinko president, Mr Junchi Mogi, said: "The reason Shinko has chosen Ireland is because of the following: the lower tax rate, the higher level of education of its citizens and the closeness to our customers."
Shinko's managing director, Mr Sugio Uchida, said its decision was also influenced by access to the euro zone.
Ms Harney said Ireland had been doing extremely well with US investment into Europe, but "we haven't been doing as well with Japanese investment and the expansion in Tallaght of Shinko, which is a world leader in its field, is a very significant investment decision.
"Although the Japanese economy has been in recession for some time, there are enormous opportunities for Japanese investment into Ireland." Ms Harney said the Government was committed to implementing a report on Asia commissioned by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, after his trip to China in September, which recommends increasing Irish representation in Asia and spending money to raising the State's profile. Ms Harney will meet the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Keizo Obuchi, today before leaving for New Zealand.