Close to 700 positions to be made available
Job creation has been given a significant boost locally with three major announcements that impact on the region including County Roscommon, local TD Denis Naughten has stated.
“Yesterday (Monday) we had the announcement of 100 jobs by local company Harmac in Castlerea, which has built on the success of Athlone Institute of Technology in the medical devices sector while on Friday we had the announcement of 80 new jobs in Athlone from the NPD group which provides market research services for international retailers in the footwear and beauty sectors,” explained Denis Naughten.
“And last Tuesday we had the announcement of the Government’s jobs initiative which will directly create 66 jobs in the local economy on foot of the combined investment on roads, schools and energy. Furthermore the various labour activation measures announced in the Job Initiative will provide approximately 430 places for people who are currently unemployed.”
He continued: “These announcements will have a direct impact on the level of unemployment locally and other changes announced in the Jobs Initiative will assist other local employers to retain existing jobs and to create new jobs in the local economy.
“Targeted incentives for the tourism sector, research & development, those on low wages, improving access to credit and changes to public procurement policy will also support the local economy. These are real, positive actions being taken to help people get back to work. This is just the first step and much more needs to be done to get our country back on track but this is the first step in the right direction.
“A number of other measures being worked on at a local level with employers and agencies, some of which will come to fruition in the next few months, will also tie-in with some of the Government announced schemes and will have a direct impact on employment,” concluded Denis Naughten.