Leo Varadkar welcomes jobs boost at E+I Engineering

He visited the E+I Engineering Ltd plant in Burnfoot to make the announcement on Tuesday morning.

A 9.5m euro investment by the company, which is one of the biggest employers in the north west of Ireland, will lead to the creation of the new jobs in engineering, project management and production.

Mr Varadkar was met by senior management in the company, Enterprise Ireland chief Julie Sinnamon and Donegal TD Joe McHugh.

He received a short tour of the facility before addressing workers.

"This is a really good example of the jobs that we need for the future," he said.

"The economy is going well, we are approaching full employment, but we can't take anything for granted.

"What we need in Ireland more and more are Irish companies that grow from the bottom up, that develop and go global themselves, and E+I is a perfect example of that, bringing high quality employment to the North West but also expanding internationally and very much developing the kind of jobs we need to see in the future."

E+I chief executive Philip O'Doherty said: "Rural Ireland can produce companies that can expand globally and create jobs in these areas, you don't have to be in a large city to have a large facility like this.

"In fact I would contend that it is easier sometimes to assemble a large skilled workforce in areas like the north west of Ireland.

"Our workforce primarily comes from Derry and Donegal.

"We have achieved the scale that we have because of this location, the location has not given us any disadvantage."

E+I Engineering is a global leader in the critical power distribution sector, manufacturing electrical switchgear, busduct systems and energy management software, for some of the most recognisable brands and technically advanced companies all over the world.

It employs 1,700 staff.

About half of those are based at the Co Donegal plant, while the others are in the United States and the Middle East.

The new jobs and extension of the 215,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Donegal represents an investment of around 9.5 million euro by the company, which now operates in more than 40 countries around the world.