US computer firm pledges 1,700 jobs

US company Dell Computers will today promise a further 1,700 jobs for Limerick in an announcement timed to coincide with President Clinton's visit to the city.

Dell is to invest £90 million in constructing its third plant in Limerick, which will bring its workforce to nearly 6,000 people and lead to it becoming one of the State's biggest employers.

Last January, Dell announced plans to expand in Ireland by employing a further 3,000 people over the next five years. With this expansion running ahead of schedule - nearly 80 per cent of the 3,000 jobs should be in place by the end of the year - and demand strong in the European market, it is now committing itself to creating the further 1,700 jobs.

Dell already employs 3,400 people in the Republic, of whom 2,800 are in two plants in Limerick. Its main plant is in Raheen and, since last April, it has operated the former AST plant in Castletroy. The remaining staff are in a sales support centre in Bray, Co Wicklow.

The new plant will be a 340,000 sq ft facility located beside the Raheen headquarters. When it is built, the company will have a total of one million sq ft of manufacturing space in Limerick.

The expansion - which is contingent on market conditions remaining strong - will be announced in Limerick today by Dell's European president, Mr Jan Gesmar-Larsen, at a function also likely to be attended by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.

It shows Dell's confidence that it can find suitably skilled employees and, if successfully completed, will make it Ireland's largest information technology employer. About half of the new jobs being created this year are for third-level graduates and the rest are for those with secondary-level qualifications.

The announcement comes the day after President Clinton spoke in Dublin about the strong contribution which major US companies such as IBM, Dell, Gateway and Intel are making to the economy, and the potential for co-operating in electronic commerce over the Internet, one of the tools now being used by Dell to sell its computers.

Dell is one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers, with annual sales of $15 billion (£10.7 billion) and a total workforce of 20,800 people worldwide. Its success has been built on its direct sales model, where customers buy directly from the company either on the telephone or the Internet and the computer.