Renewable energy company announces plan for 70 posts
THERE was a small ray of hope for the depressed jobs market yesterday when a renewable energy company announced over 70 new jobs.
Northern Ireland firm O'Kane Plumbing and Electrics Limited said it will accept applications for the first 40 jobs in three months.
The jobs will be created in its renewable energy division over the next three years.
Forty jobs will be advertised this year and a further 15 jobs will be created next year -- and the same number the following year -- for tradespeople, surveyors, administrative and managerial staff.
The jobs will be created when the company, based in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, expands is operation in Leinster.
It also plans to extend its apprenticeship programme for school leavers into the Republic.
Tanaiste and Trade, Enterprise and Employment Minister Mary Coughlan, who is a friend of managing director Maurice O'Kane's wife, formally announced the new jobs yesterday.
"This creation of jobs is a fantastic boost to the area of Leinster at this time," she said at the launch in the Merrion Hotel in Dublin.
"It is a vital step forward to ensuring the demands for renewable energy sources are met as more people realise the value of money-saving initiatives provided in the country."
She said businesspeople had not been inclined to think about crossborder opportunities in the past.
- ANNE MARIE WALSH
