The US pharmaceutical company, Johnson and Johnson, is to create 450 jobs at a new manufacturing plant in Cashel in Co Tipperary.
A subsidiary of the company, Cordis Corporation, says the plant will develop products involved in the treatment of heart disease.
The company expects that the plant will be in place by the first half of 2008, with the 450 jobs being created over three years.
Cordis says it will require people with medical devices engineering, technical and laboratory qualifications and skills, development personnel up to PhD level, and management and administration staff.
The development was announced by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, who described the plant as a next generation facility that would have substantial employment and economic benefits for the town and the whole region.
