Good news hat-trick for Cork

Kevin O’Leary, director, Kevin O’Leary Group; Ian Allen, Centra Sales Director; and John O’Leary, director, Kevin O’Leary Group.  

The promise of eighty new jobs for the city and county as well as five new airline routes from Cork airport to Eastern Europe takes Cork into the Bank Holiday Weekend on a good news high.

GE Healthcare announced that 50 new jobs are to be created at its flagship manufacturing plant in Carrigtwohill following an €8.1m investment that will double the facility’s manufacturing capacity.

The announcement was welcomed by Cork Chamber president John Mullins, who described it as a “vote of confidence” in Cork, while local Fine Gael TD David Stanton declared it “a great boost for East Cork”.

This was followed on Thursday morning by the opening of a new Centra store in Douglas, creating 30 new jobs, following a €1m investment in a 6,000 square feet store and café at South Douglas Road, owned and operated by local businessmen John and Kevin O’Leary.

The Kevin O’Leary Group has been involved with the Centra brand for over 17 years and currently operates two other Centra Stores and forecourt businesses, at Irishtown and New Road in Bandon, as well as Opel and Honda motor dealerships.

Ryanair completed the good news hat-trick, by announcing that it is to commence flights to five cities in Poland and Lithuania from Cork Airport.

The five new routes are Gdansk, Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw and Vilnius, and will operate from November 2012.

Cork Chamber’s policy and research manager, Alma Murnane, said: “Additional business into Cork Airport is always welcome and this announcement means Ryanair will now have two aircraft permanently based in Cork.”