Armagh is set to get a jobs boost with the reopening of the HCL Call Centre on the edge of the city, according to SDLP Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon.
Councillor O’Hanlon revealed: “I understand that the HCL Call Centre on the Newry Road at Edenaveys is set to reopen. This is great news and will be a welcome jobs boost to the local economy.
“Since the company announced plans to close its Armagh site in February 2012, with the loss of 170 jobs, I have been constantly lobbying Invest Northern Ireland in an effort to secure jobs and investment in Armagh.
“I understand that there has been a lot of interest in this site in recent months, however, HCL declined to sell the site as they had plans within their own business for it.
“I am delighted to learn that, over the coming days, HCL are about to embark on a major recruitment drive for their Armagh site, with all levels of staff being recruited.
“I am told that initially they plan to recruit about 50 members of staff and that the initial work is to service the banking sector, but there are hopes this will soon grow into further work.
“The successful applicants are set to begin work as early as mid July.
“This is great news for Armagh and our local economy. In recent months we have seen many jobs created within this service sector right across the north. It is an important part of our growing services industry.
“I want to see greater cooperation between Armagh City and District Council, Invest NI and our further education sector in Armagh to build on this investment.
“Our world is investing in the digital economy and I believe we need to see Armagh capitalise on this important part of the economy.
“We are ideally placed on a north-south basis and the digital infrastructure is in place. We just need the drive and ambition to make Armagh a digital hub for our economic renewal and this is an issue I will be asking council officials to begin work on as a matter of urgency.”
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