Ecocem Ireland announced today its plans to create 61 jobs as part of a new three year, €19m investment programme coinciding with the official opening of its new facility at Dublin Port.

The plant will be used to bag Ecocem's eco-friendly cement, which among other things reduces the carbon footprint of traditional cement by over 50%. It will be the highest quality, lowest carbon cement product produced in Ireland.

The new plant, which was officially opened by Brian Hayes, Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, will lead to the creation of 25 direct jobs and 36 indirect jobs in other, directly-associated and Irish-based suppliers. On top of this, the programme will see investment reach €19m over the next three years, with a €5m investment in machinery and infrastructure already made, and will lead to expanded development of export markets (Bulk, Bagged and special products) in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and the UK.

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Conor O'Riain, Head of New Markets and Products at Ecocem Materials said: "Ecocem Ireland's investment programme in its Ringsend and Dublin Port facilities over the next three years will enable us to enhance our manufacturing capacity and expand our exports of green cement to Northern Europe. We are proud to be able to make this investment in green technology focussed on export markets at a difficult time for the construction industry in Ireland."

He added: "The new plant will give Ecocem Ireland the capacity to respond to the Irish government’s upcoming Green Public Procurement (GPP) policy in a meaningful way. Today’s event marks a key step on the road to realising Ireland’s Green potential. This is confirmation that the government’s green public procurement policy will benefit the environment, deliver new jobs, expand our green industry and expertise, grow our exports, and is an essential element in meeting Ireland's obligation of a 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020."

Ecocem cement also underpins 450 jobs in the precast concrete sector in Ireland, where it is an essential requirement in meeting the demand for low-carbon concrete in the UK – an export market valued at €40m to the economy.

(CD/GK)