Roosky firm to create 30 jobs

Enterprise Ireland supports €25m investment by 10 companies

386 new jobs created by Irish companies

Businesses respond to opportunities - Tánaiste

Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment today (Thursday 24^th July 2003) announced that Vistamed Ltd., based in Roosky, is one of 10 Irish companies where Enterprise Ireland made a significant investment in support of innovation, business development and international market development in the first three months of this year. This will result in a total investment of €25m by these companies and the creation of approximately 386 new jobs over the next 3 years. Vistamed Ltd. predicts it will create 30 of these jobs.

Making the announcement the Tánaiste said: "All of these investments were made in the first three months of 2003 and underline the importance of indigenous enterprise to the Irish economy during what has been a difficult period for both local and international business. It also confirms that Ireland does maintain a competitive advantage in key sectors. We must build on this momentum and continue to encourage existing business and prospective new investors to strengthen the employment base of Irish industry."

"In a difficult global trading environment, these companies have identified market opportunities and are prepared to invest substantial resources in responding to those opportunities. These investments will help some companies to export for the first time, will help others to consolidate and build market share, and will help others to perform critical R & D," she added.

"The companies supported vary from new start-ups with high export growth potential to established companies expanding activity. Six of the companies are located outside Dublin and are involved in activities such as medical devices, information technology, engineering and innovative furniture production. The advanced technology based orientation of these regionally based companies is particularly encouraging," the Tánaiste concluded.

Dan Flinter said: "These companies represent significant investments made by Enterprise Ireland in the first 3 months of 2003. During the same period, Enterprise Ireland also supported investments in approximately 200 companies, in activities such as R & D, training and market investigation".

For further information contact:

Paschal McGuire - Enterprise Ireland Phone: 01-808 2308/Mobile: 087-2645530

Note for Editors

List of Enterprise Ireland supported companies:

Company Activity Description

Chanelle Group - Healthcare - Veterinary and Human medicines.

CP3 Software Solutions Ltd - Integrated business communication software solutions.

Ecom Interaction Services Ltd - Telemarketing - third party contact centre services through its web-enabled call centre.

Vistamed Limited - Medical Tubing for medical device Manufacturers.

Legacy Web Services Ltd - Web based business solutions.

Steripack Limited - Design and manufacture of sterilisible packaging exclusively for the medical devices industry and contract manufacturing and packaging.

Cape Technologies Limited - Telecoms software focused on network management applications.

Aliope Limited - Asset Management of Digital Video content for fixed and mobile wireless networks.

Spring & Precision Engineering - Mechanical Engineering Products.

Lifestyle Furniture - Innovative furniture products.

ENDS