CHARLIE TAYLOR

Three firms are to create over 120 jobs across the island of Ireland, it was confirmed on Thursday.

The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), which is based in Dun Laoghaire, has said it is creating 34 additional roles this year.

The company, which was founded in 2008 by Ian Dodson and Anthony Quigley, has grown from 20 employees in 2013 to 47 today.

The latest jobs announcement is the result of continuing strong international growth, which saw 86 per cent growth in revenue across its core business in 2015. Turnover meanwhile has trebled in the past three years.

Elsewhere, O'Brien Fine Foods is promising 40 new roles as part of a €14 million expansion at its facility in Timahoe, Co Kildare.

The company, which produces cooked meats under the Brady Family and Rudds brand names, is planning a 8,000 sq m expansion at its premises in a move which is expected to more than double operational capacity.

It said it intends to bring the total numbers of employees at the plant to 310 from 270 over the next two years with a further 150 jobs expected to be created during the constructin phase. The company also employs 55 people at a facility in Birr, Co Offaly.

The expansion at Timahoe is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland.

In the north, smart payments firm Cayan has said it is to create 50 new jobs in Belfast. The Boston-headquartered company first set up operations in Northern Ireland in 2013 and it currently employs 134 staff.