Significant jobs announcement for Waterford will be a huge boost to South-East

Fine Gael TD and Minister of State John Cummins has welcomed today’s announcement by IBM to create 75 high-quality jobs inWaterford.

Minister Cummins met with IBM Ireland General Manager, Nathan Cullen along with Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke in recent days to discuss job creation in the South East.

The leading global technology company will hire up to 75 software engineers dedicated to research and development based in Waterford.

In addition to the expansion of R&D functions in Waterford, IBM in collaboration with the South East Technological University will develop a technical skills ecosystem with a focus on mainframes and Linux.

The Waterford software engineers will closely collaborate with IBM’s R&D teams around the world, from designing processors and firmware to software development and advancing the Linux operating system.

Speaking about today’s announcement, Minister Cummins said: “In recent days I met with IBM about their plans for job creation here in Waterford and I heard first-hand about the success the company is having in the county.

“This investment is a strong endorsement of the South-East region’s growing reputation as a hub for innovation and advanced technology and is a hugely positive development which underscores Ireland and Waterford’s attractiveness as a location for businesses to invest in and to expand R&D operations.

“More jobs and further collaboration with SETU will have a positive knock-on effect for our communities, local businesses, education and attracts further investment in the South East.

“This is a really exciting opportunity and I want to commend IBM, IDA Ireland and Minister Burke for their work to deliver these new high-quality jobs.

“I am looking forward to further announcements in the time ahead.”