Dexcom to build its first European factory in Ireland

Dublin: US medical device company Dexcom plans to invest 300 million euros ($330.8 million) over the next five years to build a manufacturing site in Ireland, creating up to 1,000 jobs, it said on Friday.

The plans provide some good news for the Irish economy after announcements of job cuts at other foreign-owned companies.

Dexcom, which makes glucose monitoring systems for people with diabetes, said it would seek planning permission for land owned by the Irish government's investment agency (IDA) in Athenry.

"This will be one of the biggest single private sector investments ever in the West of Ireland," Prime Minister Leo Varadar said in a statement. Ireland is hugely reliant on multinationals that together employ more than 275,000 people, or one in nine workers, and account for a large chunk of the country's income and corporate taxes.

Many of the world's leading drugmakers have operations in Ireland, including Pfizer (PFE.N), which plans to invest more than 1.2 billion euros ($1.26 billion) to expand manufacturing at its plant in Dublin.

Rival Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) said in August that it would create about 1,000 jobs with expansion of its manufacturing facilities. ($1 = 0.9069 euros).