Deputy Emmet Stagg has welcomed the decision by An Bord Pleanala to grant planning permission to Intel for a major expansion of their facililty at Leixlip, Co. Kildare.

Deputy Stagg stated the new plant would be used to build a new generation of faster and more powerful microchips with total floor area for the expanded facility of 162,536 sqm.

He said: "Intel have invested €7.5 Billion at its Leixlip Plant since they first set up their base in Leixlip in 1989 and their last major investment was the €1.6 Billion investment in their Fab 24 plant in 2006. There are over 4,500 people presently working for Intel in Ireland.

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"The grant of planning permission gives Intel Ireland the final piece of the jigsaw in their quest to be selected as one of the three locations to build the next generation of chips. The chips are likely to be manufactured in Arizona and Oregon in the States and Intel in Israel are also pushing to be selected as the third location."

In conclusion Deputy Stagg said that thousands of constructions jobs and hundreds of new permanent posts at the high tech campus in Leixlip could now become a reality if Intel Ireland can get the final go ahead from the US to be one of the 3 plants to build the next generation of microchips.

(CD/GK)