A €20 million investment in the Merit Medical plant in Galway City has been described as a “vote of confidence” in its future here.

The investment in the medical devices company – which employs around 260 people in the Parkmore Business Park – will see around 30 jobs created in the short-term and up to 60 over the next five years.

Mark Butler, Vice President of European Operations at Merit Medical told the Sentinel: “The investment has come from the hard work, flexibility and dedication of the staff here in Galway. The €20m is for Research & Development on a new product, ‘Ensnare’ (a device used to retrieve foreign objects in arteries), and part of the investment will be for line extensions to existing products.”

He said that around 20 to 30 jobs would be created in the short-term, with up to 60 over the three to five-year term of the investment.

Mr Butler explained that the investment was part of a common multi-national company strategy to strategically protect existing jobs and their core market, as opposed to specifically job creation.

“With the IDA’s help and the good work of the Merit employees, Ireland is still a good place to do business. We have a highly-educated workforce which is flexible,” he said.

He said the company embarked on a plan four years ago to secure its future, when it saw the first signs of the current global economic downturn.

Merit Medical formed its European headquarters in Galway in 1995 and develops, manufactures and markets single-use medical products for use in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.