Tánaiste Announces almost 130 New Jobs for County Donegal

Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment today (Friday 24th November 2000) announced the creation of almost 130 new jobs in two IDA Ireland supported investments in County Donegal.

Over 90 of the new jobs will be created at an existing Letterkenny company - InterVentional Technologies (IVT) Europe - which is to develop and expand its cardiovascular products facility.

In Buncrana, the establishment by a US company - Network Resources America - of a new Internet-based research centre to support its activities in the US and UK will create 35 new jobs. Network Resources is an executive search company that finds high level technical and management personnel for large blue chip companies throughout North and South America.

Speaking in Derry where she was attending the Inter Trade Ireland Road Show the Tánaiste congratulated the management and workforce at IVT for winning the expansion and welcomed the new Network Resources centre to County Donegal. "This is further good news for Donegal and will compensate for some of the recent job losses in the County. Today’s announcements are a clear indication of the success of the Government’s strategy and its commitment to attract at least 50% of all new investment to the Border, Midland and Western Region", she said.

"These latest investments for County Donegal follow successes of already achieved in securing Prumerica Systems Ireland Limited and PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. for Letterkenny in recent times. It is the Governments intention to continue to prioritise the region so as to secure further high quality investments," said the Tánaiste.

"I wish to congratulate all those at local and national level, particularly the Donegal Employment Initiative, for their co-operation and work in achieving such significant results so quickly. I also wish to recognise the work done by FÁS in the County in recent times and the valuable contribution of the Letterkenny Institute of Technology and the other educational facilities in the County for providing the quality and mix of courses to develop people with the world class skills to meet the requirements of international companies," said the Tánaiste in conclusion.

InterVentional Technologies (IVT) Europe is to develop and expand its existing Irish cardiovascular products facility in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, and is to add over 90 new jobs that will bring total employment to 150 people over the next three years, with 50% of these holding third level qualifications. Recruitment is already underway.

IVT’s highly skilled leading-edge technology operation manufactures and markets four minimally invasive, disposable, microsurgical devices for the treatment of cardiovascular disease - the "Cutting Balloon" "! and "Infiltrator ®" catheters along with the "LP-Stents"!" and " Trackwire"!" .

The development at IVT will give the Irish operation full autonomous production capability for all aspects of its four products, together with a significant R&D facility for those products, for markets in Europe and Japan. The expansion will result in the company relocating all its operations, currently in four separate units in the town, into a new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. purpose designed building at IDA Ireland's Letterkenny Business Park, which it will lease from a private developer. Construction of the new building will commence upon completion of the planning process and is expected to be ready by September 2001.

IVT Europe was established in Letterkenny in 1992 as a non-US based R&D centre for the parent company to speed-up European clinical trials and approval for its "Cutting Balloon" "catheter product. In 1993 a manufacturing operation was established for the product. The company is a subsidiary of IVT Inc. of San Diego, California, US.

Network Resources America, of Atlanta, Georgia, US, is to create 35 new jobs within two years in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, in the establishment of an Internet based research centre to support its activities in the US and the UK. Network Resources is an executive search company that finds high level technical and management personnel for large blue chip companies throughout North and South America.

Recruitment for the Buncrana centre is already underway, and so far 11 people have been hired, with the majority of the jobs being for people with third level certificate or diploma qualifications. The company has so far invested over £1 million in the Donegal operation.

Peter Casey, a native of Derry, the CEO of Network Resources, said, "the key reasons for the decision to locate the centre in County Donegal is the ready availability of a highly educated workforce and the fact that staff turnover in the area is significantly lower than in the US."

At the Buncrana centre researchers will search the web for candidates that fit the correct profile, conduct telephone interviews and develop comprehensive résumés on the candidates, which will then be catalogued for storage and processing. The University of Ulster is developing data storage and data mining facilities of the résumés for the company. Network Resources, founded in 1995, has offices in New York and London and. Its customers include Ernst & Young Cap Gemini, CitiGroup, Met Life, SAP America and Knight Securities.