Lawlor warmly welcomes major jobs announcement for Kildare North

Fine Gael TD for Kildare North, Anthony Lawlor, has warmly welcomed the major jobs announcement for Naas this morning (Tuesday) by Kerry Group, which is to establish an industry leading global technology innovation centre in the Millennium Business Park. This €100m investment will create 900 permanent jobs and 400 immediate construction jobs.

“This announcement by Kerry Group to establish a flagship global technology and customer innovation centre on a 28 acre site in the Millennium Business Park, Naas is a huge boast to the local economy. The investment, which will be part-funded by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland, will accommodate 800 people in 2015 and a further 100 positions when fully commissioned by mid-2016. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has also had a central involvement in supporting this investment.

“These jobs will have a major impact not only on the local economy in Naas but the wider Kildare area. It will bring Naas to the heart of the global marketplace, as the innovation centre will serve as a key focal point for Kerry Group’s customer engagement activities by providing strategic customers with access to the Group’s complete breadth and depth of technologies, scientific research, innovation and applications expertise across food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.

“The announcement today is further proof of this Government’s determination to create jobs in Ireland. Following announcements from international firms like Paypal, Apple and Google, it is particularly significant that an indigenous company is in a position to create such a large number of jobs in our hugely successful agri-food sector.”

ENDS