Kerry Group is setting up a global technology and innovation centre in Naas, Co Kildare, in a €100m investment that’s set to create up to 900 permanent jobs by 2016, as well as 400 construction jobs during the build.
The new campus will be based on a 28-acre site in the Millennium Business Park. By 2015, Kerry is projecting that 800 jobs will be created, with a further 100 positions in place by 2016.
The €100m investment will be part-funded by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland.
According to Kerry Group, the centre will be a key focal point for its customer engagement activities to provide strategic customers with access to its technologies, scientific research, innovation and applications expertise across food, beverage and pharmaceutical markets.
“This is the largest single investment in food innovation ever by a company in Ireland, and puts Ireland firmly at the forefront of global food innovation,” said the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton, TD, this morning.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine also played a central role in supporting the investment.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD, spoke about how the news is proof that the agri-food sector can be “central to rebuilding the Irish economy”.
“Kerry Group are Ireland’s largest agri-food and food innovation company. They employ 24,000 people around the world. This investment is a statement of confidence in the Irish economy and in the quality of Irish food science graduates to deliver food innovation in the most modern facility of its type on the planet,” he said.
