Numerous jobs announced for Athlone didn't materialise

Research carried out by the Westmeath Independent has shown that many jobs which were expected to be created by IDA-supported companies in Athlone in recent years have not yet materialised. Less than a third of the jobs which were initially expected to be created by the AXA Assistance and Georgia Tech companies have been created to date. However other jobs announcements, by Teleflex Medical and KCI Manufacturing, have yielded approximately the same number of new employees as was expected. Government Ministers came to Athlone to announce the development of new facilities by AXA Assistance and Georgia Tech at the IDA Business and Technology Park in 2005 and 2006 respectively. It was stated at the time that AXA was planning to create up to 300 jobs over the next five years, while Georgia Tech envisaged 50 jobs being created, also over a five-year period. AXA, the motor, health and travel assistance firm, said this week that it currently employs 71 people in Athlone. Meanwhile Georgia Tech has eight permanent staff and one employee through the FAS work placement programme. Commenting on the fact that many of the AXA Assistance Ireland jobs in Athlone which were expected in 2005 have not materialised, general manager Eoin Lyons said the condition of the global economy was a factor. "International economic conditions have changed dramatically since 2005. Demand, both locally and internationally, has dropped and currency exchange rates have made the environment very challenging for a global business," he said. "Despite this AXA Assistance has grown year on year since launch and business remains strong with optimistic long term prospects. We expect to continue to deliver profitable growth and create long term sustainable jobs in the Athlone area." Georgia Tech Ireland, which is a research arm of the US University, also had significant potential for growth over the coming years according to its general manager Shane Fanning. "We're sticking to our game plan and we see great potential for the future," he said. Mr Fanning added that Georgia Tech last year developed a new partnership with NUI Galway and the University of Limerick, and it is currently working on a number of other projects. Global medical technology companies Teleflex Medical and KCI Manufacturing, which are also based at the IDA Park, both announced new investments in Athlone in 2007. At that time Teleflex predicted that it would have created as many as 150 new jobs by July 2012. The company told the Westmeath Independent this week that it currently employs approximately 105 people in Athlone and has "new recruits starting every few weeks in different departments". In 2007, KCI Manufacturing said it expected to create a total of 250 jobs in Athlone over five years "linked to the future growth requirements of the business." A company representative said this week that KCI Manufacturing currently has a core employee base of between 180 and 200 employees in the town. The company's total number of staff here is "increased from time to time to cope with increased volume demands," the company representative stated. At a launch attended by Taoiseach Brian Cowen in March 2010, the PPD pharmaceutical firm also announced that it was to create up to 250 local jobs. At the time of going to press the company had not responded to queries from this newspaper about its current number of staff.