150 New Jobs Expected To Be Created By Geoscience Ireland Companies

An additional 150 new jobs are expected to be created over the next year by the 24 member companies of Geoscience Ireland, the group has said on the publication of it's twice yearly members survey.

The survey found that 42 jobs have been created across the group since July, 2015.

These figures bring to almost 300 the number of net new jobs created by Geoscience Ireland (GI) member companies since September 2012. The network of GI companies have agreed a target of a further 150 new jobs by 2017.

Tunnelling and drilling contractors reported the strongest growth, with many engineering and environmental consultancies also reporting increased numbers.

Commenting on the strong job growth, Joe McHugh T.D., Minster for Natural Resources, said: "The member companies of Geoscience Ireland continue to surpass their job creation targets, providing well paid and sustainable jobs for designers, surveyors, scientists, engineers and highly skilled trades across a range of sectors.

"This continued success aligns well with the Action Plan for Jobs for 2016 recently published by government. The Geoscience Ireland (GI) initiative is an excellent example of cooperation between a number of state agencies and departments, the private sector and applied research. The creation of an integrated Geoscience Enterprise and Innovation Hub is now a realistic concept which my Department will continue to support and foster.

"The GI Network aligns closely with the National Clustering Initiative as outlined in the Action Plan for Jobs, which supports enterprise-led initiatives to build world-class clusters in key sectors, such as agri-food, engineering, ICT and life sciences, and will support clusters of scale that can drive innovation, collaboration, productivity and resilience. The clustering approach will invite industry, research institutions and other relevant stakeholders to collaboratively engage in identifying challenges and developing solutions.

"The job creation by Geoscience Ireland (GI) companies has a strong regional footprint, as over 40% of GI members are based outside Dublin. The GI network now totals 26 companies, has added two new companies in January, bringing the total number employed to over 1,600."

(MH/CD)