A TOTAL OF 163 new jobs are to be created in the west of the country following two significant investment announcements today.

Wedding planning company The Knot Worldwide is to establish an operations centre in Galway creating 100 jobs, while Botox manufacturer Allergan is to increase its Westport presence with the addition of 63 more jobs.

The Knot Worldwide currently operates in 15 countries and its website has helped more than 40 million couples around the world plan their weddings.

It does this by allowing couples access to planning tools and connecting them with local goods and services. 

Roles to be filled at the Galway base include writers and community forum support staff.

Pharmaceutical firm Allergan already employs almost 2,000 people in Ireland and has laboratory and manufacturing facilities in Westport, Co Mayo and Clonshaugh in north Dublin. 

The Westport campus was first opened in 1977 and is now the company’s most complex global base. It is where Allergan produces its flagship Botox product.

The company today announced a further investment of €65 million into the Westport facility that will support the addition of 63 more jobs.

The investment will focus on new manufacturing suites in the Westport biologics facility and will also support the completion of a new microbiology and cell-based laboratory. 

Allergan's Westport facility. Allergan Allergan

“This €65 million investment further cements Ireland’s strategic role in Allergan’s global network,” Allergan’s vice president and plant general manager Paul Coffey said today.

Continued investment of this scale builds on the €50 million investment programme in 2018 and €42 million in 2017, which allows us to apply world-class technology to Allergan’s leading innovation and product development strategy.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Allegan’s decision demonstrated the strength of FDI investment in Ireland:

“This is great news for Westport and for Mayo and reinforces the region’s deserved reputation as a location for investment and innovation. It is further evidence of the confidence international companies like Allergan continue to have in Ireland.”