164 new jobs in Limerick and Clare as Three, MECO and UTC expand

28 Sep 2015

Three companies have made major announcements in recent days that bring a further 164 jobs to Ireland’s southwest region, with Limerick getting the bulk of them.

Three Ireland has created 100 of those jobs at its call centre in Limerick, bringing the headcount there to an impressive 450.*

The move comes after Three acquired O2 last year, with the jobs acting as a transfer of positions from Mumbai to Ireland.

Elsewhere, MECO, a manufacturer of engineered products for water purification, is to open its European headquarters in the National Technology Park, creating 44 jobs in Limerick.

Jobs in Ireland, a European tactic

“Europe continues to enjoy positive growth in the biopharmaceutical markets and represents opportunities for our other focus industries,” said MECO’s president George Gsell.

“Our fully-staffed, strategically-located office in Ireland will service our existing customers as well as support our planned expansion of new customers throughout Europe.”

Meanwhile, last Friday, aerospace company United Technologies (UTC) announced the addition of 20 new jobs at a maintenance, repair and overhaul centre in Shannon.

Shannon Aircraft Motor Works, a unit of UTC Aerospace Systems, will service the next generation of Smart Probe Air Data Information Management Systems and sensors for the commercial aircraft market in Europe.

Plenty of jobs in Shannon

It’s the second such piece of good news from the company this month, after it announced 25 roles at an aerospace research hub a few weeks back.

The Irish facility was established back in 2010 as the European hub for UTRC.

Currently employing 40 people on site, the research facility sees researchers and scientists focused on advancing capabilities in building and industrial systems through research and development of underlying technical fields.

“We are delighted to expand our maintenance capabilities at our Shannon facility,” said Bob Butz, vice president or worldwide repair of UTC Aerospace Systems.

“With the support of the IDA, we look forward to growing our business in Ireland and providing more value for our customers.”

This all ties in with regional jobs plan announced by the Government during the summer which bids to bring in 40,000 positions to the region in areas like agri-food, tourism, life sciences, manufacturing and ICT, as well as emerging sectors like multimedia/content and the green economy, energy and marine.

Updated at 12.30pm on Monday September 28: This article originally read that Three was ‘creating’ 100 roles, however, this has since been amended as the 100 roles in the company have already been filled.

Looking for tech jobs in Ireland? Check out our Featured Employers section for information on companies hiring right now.

Gordon Hunt
By Gordon Hunt

Gordon Hunt joined Silicon Republic in October 2014 as a journalist. He spends most of his time avoiding conversations about music, appreciating even the least creative pun and rueing the day he panicked when meeting Paul McGrath. His favourite thing on the internet is the ‘Random Article’ link on Wikipedia.

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