What have two Tuesdays, a Thursday and a month of Mondays got in common?
These seven days have seen Limerick increasingly become the focal point of the Irish business world thanks to a series of jobs announcements.
During the period between the 13th of September and the 20th of October, it seemed the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor along with the Minister for Finance, Limerick’s Michael Noonan were permanent fixtures in the city.
On four successive Mondays, from the 26th of September, Limerick was grabbing all the headlines with jobs announcement after jobs announcement.
In total 784, highly skilled and high-value added jobs have been announced for Limerick.
The jobs bonanza began on the 13th of September with Ortec setting up a European Headquarters, Manufacturing and Operations Centre in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, creating up to 110 skilled engineering and science jobs in the region over the next several years once the plant is operational.
This was quickly followed by Fazzi Healthcare (300 jobs), WP Engine (100), Casa Systems (50), TruSource Labs (134), ACI Worldwide (50) and finally Redfaire with an additional 40 jobs being created.
Sandwiched in between all the announcements was the launch of the new Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC company propelling the story of Limerick and its ongoing rejuvenation onto the international stage.
Limerick Twenty Thirty DAC will drive the economic plans for Limerick, concentrating initially on four key sites, to provide the highest quality office space so sought after by companies looking to expand.
The recent spate of investments are in a variety of sectors – ICT, med-tech, financial services, life sciences – the sectors that IDA Ireland has been focusing on for Limerick.
Lucy Xie, Senior Vice President of Operations for Casa Systems describes how highly rated Limerick is becoming as a destination for FDI.
“Casa is very excited to establish operations in Limerick. Workforce talent is always a key factor when selecting a new location. With a growing reputation for its highly-skilled technical, logistics and manufacturing talent pool, Limerick moved to the top of the list.”
Co-operation is the key to securing investment. All the state agencies, the local authority, businesses and educational institutions are working together to promote the Limerick brand.
Fazzi Healthcare’s Founder and Managing partner Dr Robert Fazzi summed it up well: “We are absolutely thrilled to be here in Limerick. Our Irish employees are clearly smart, dedicated and incredibly talented. We are very thankful to the IDA and the Irish government for welcoming us and helping us to develop our business here. Without question, Ireland has proven to be a country strongly supportive to the creation of innovative and growth-oriented companies.”