Coffey welcomes Sun-Life Jobs announcement for Waterford

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has welcomed news from Sun Life that they are to create 50 new jobs in Waterford City. Minister Coffey said these are hugely important jobs in the Financial Services Sector and shows once again that the economy is recovering in the Regions.

“Since the Action Plan for Jobs was launched in February 2012, 90,000 jobs have been added in the Irish Economy and 1 in 4 of those jobs have been created in the South East Region. We now have over 204,000 people in work in the Region, the highest in 6 years and our unemployment rate has collapsed from 20.1% in 2012 to 11.9% at the end of last year.

“Ireland now is the fastest growing economy in Europe and the government has been in a position to cut income taxes for the first time in 8 years. Given the positive momentum in the Irish Economy, that is built on a solid foundation, the government hopes to be in a position to remove another 90,000 people out of paying the universal social charge and cut income taxes again.

“Sun Life currently employs 350 people in Waterford City and I am pleased that this number will now be expanding to over 400 people. I want to commend the staff of Sun Life in Waterford for their work and commitment over the last number of years that has led to today’s announcement. It is great to see Sun Life opening new offices in Waterford City and it shows their commitment to our city.

“Our economy is in recovery mode and these types of announcements are positive for our City and Region. This type of announcement would not have possible only a few short years ago, but because of our stable economy and with a positive outlook into the medium term, these job announcements are becoming far more common in Waterford and around the Country.

“We need to ensure that we continue to have a strong and stable government that is coherent and competent. This will help to attract foreign direct investment into this country, political stability is absolutely a must for economic stability and growth.”

—Ends—