A US COMPANY which announced in March that it would be bringing 600 jobs to Ireland has selected Limerick as its new base. 

Edwards Lifesciences – a medtech company which develops technologies and therapies to help treat people with heart disease – is investing €80 million to build a new purpose-built manufacturing facility in Castletroy.

Once completed in 2021, the facility will manufacture delivery components for its transcatheter heart valve therapies.

Fine Gael Senator Kieran O’Donnell said that the announcement was a “great news day for Limerick City and Castletroy”. 

The company said that the main attraction for it to invest in Ireland was the “wealth of experienced talent available”, and thanked the government and IDA for its support.

While the majority of jobs won’t be in place until 2021, over 60 staff – in production, engineering and professional management – are expected to be employed at Edwards Lifesciences’ initial site in the Shannon Free Zone, which opened in August.

The new roles will be in planning, quality control, assembly, engineering and finance.

Limerick city and county mayor James Collins called the announcement “a huge endorsement” for the region. 

“The construction jobs will be of substantial value to the local economy while the 600 new roles that will be created when the facility is fully operational will be of enormous benefit to the entire region,” he said.