POLITICIANS who had promised a 1,000 jobs computer plant for Cork by the world's leading disk drive manufacturers were premature in their announcement, a senior executive of Seagate has stated.

Mr Henk Verdoorn, the company's executive vice president, said yesterday that Seagate was considering a number of locations for its new facility.

He said that Cork was one such possible location, but added that Seagate was examining other centres in Ireland and throughout the world. Mr Verdoorn said the company would decide on a location for its expansion before the end of this month.

Mr Verdoorn admitted he was "a little bit annoyed but not overly concerned" about suggestions that the company would definitely locate in Cork.

Seagate's disk drive manufacturing plant in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was officially opened yesterday by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton. Mr Bruton described Seagate as "a tremendous friend" of Ireland.

The Seagate plant in Clonmel was originally targeted to employ more than 1,250 people. The company now has more than 1,500 on its payroll.

Mr Richard Downing, Seagate's senior vicepresident, said it was on target to produce 2.5 million disk drives by the end of this month.