Athenry calling

IDA seeking to bring more companies to County Galway

US Medtech giant Dexcom’s expected arrival to Athenry has been in the pipeline for the past 15 years, ever since IDA Ireland acquired a 89-hectare landbank from Teagasc to be used as a strategic site with a view for large-scale industry.

The company has recently lodged a planning application with Galway County Council and are awaiting a decision on this major development which includes a four-storey building and will ultimately create 1,000 permanent high-skilled jobs.

On the earmarked site, the Dexcom development accounts for 30 hectares. This means that there is potential to bring in two similar-sized facilities or a multitude of other smaller scale companies.

The IDA’s engagement with Dexcom has been a lengthy one, going back somewhere in the region of eight years. Different sites, both across the country and internationally, had failed the company’s project litmus test for a variety of factors, before a company visit post-Covid in 2021 saw the wheels really get in motion on this particular manufacturing facility.

Dexcom are understood to have been pleased with the visibility of the site. The company, which produces glucose monitoring systems for diabetes management, believed the location was something of a beacon by being the first building of scale in the Medtech sector that you would encounter when accessing Galway city via the motorway…

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