One of the world's largest construction companies Raytheon Engineers and Constructors is to announce the establishment of a new Irish headquarters in Cork, writes Dick Hogan.

The Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Martin will perform the official opening. Raytheon will employ 100 people initially but this figure is expected to grow substantially over the coming years. World-wide, it has some 10,000 people on its payroll. The company designs and builds facilities for a wide variety of industries including those involved in the pharmaceuticals, chemical and food sectors. In the past ten years it has designed more than $1 billion worth of projects in the Republic.

The company says that its decision to locate a major new facility in the Republic was driven by the fact that the pharma-chem sector has a huge presence in Cork. Already amongst its customers are included Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Janssen, as well as Schering-Plough. Last August Raytheon Systems Limited - a separate unit of the corporation - established a software development centre in Northern Ireland.