At the official opening of Ireland’s newest Motorway Service Area situated at Junction 14 on the M11 in Wicklow, Applegreen, Ireland’s largest independent forecourt retailer, part of Petrogas Global Ltd, announced the creation of 360 new full time jobs in Ireland. The jobs will be created through the development of 6 new Service Areas in 2014 and 2015 at a total investment by the company of €30 million.
In addition to the new full time jobs, more than 250 construction workers will be contracted per site during the construction phase. Once opened, there will be 60 full time positions per service area.
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The Wicklow Service Area is the first of the new Applegreen sites to open for business with additional sites in Birdhill, Co. Tipperary, Swords, Co. Dublin and Lemybrien, Co. Waterford, which is currently under construction. The new super service stations are located on major inter-urban routes which will provide much needed services and facilities to motorists traveling on their daily commute.
Wicklow Service Area is located on the M11 at Junction 14 which is also known as the ‘Coynes Cross’ Junction. It will be accessible by an average of 35,000 motorists per day. The traveling public from Wexford to Dublin or Dublin to Wexford can now for the first time avail of the full range of popular services Applegreen already offers from over 100 other sites across its service station network in Ireland and the UK. The privately funded investment is the seventh Motorway Service Area in the Applegreen network with four based on the M1 on both sides at Lusk and Castlebellingham and two on the M4 at Enfield.
The new motorway service station facilities include a convenience store, car and HGV fuelling pumps, ESB electric car charge points, Burger King Restaurant and drive-through, Subway sandwich bar, Applegreen’s own ‘Bakewell Kitchen’ café, Costa Coffee, in and outdoor children’s play areas, indoor & outdoor seating, toilets and washroom facilities, car, bus and HGV parking.
The Applegreen brand is constantly evolving and has brought many new initiatives to the forecourt market in recent years. It pioneered the first Motorway Service Areas in Ireland, launched the forecourt industry’s first loyalty card scheme and more recently Applegreen have entered the dealer market which will allow independent retailers access to the Applegreen brand. The new Applegreen dealer package will offer a ‘no hassle’ solution for forecourt owners looking for a wide range of benefits when moving to an Applegreen canopy and fuel supply. Applegreen also scooped Retail Excellence National store of the Year award and Store Manager of the Year which was the first forecourt retailer to win the top award. Petrogas Global Limited trading as Applegreen is also expanding its operations in the Northern Ireland, the UK and further a field with the recent opening of a service station in Long Island, New Jersey, USA and the recent launch of the first of 4 Motorway Service Areas in Northern Ireland.
Joe Barrett, Chief Operations Officer for Applegreen said, “I am delighted to announce that Applegreen has created 60 new jobs in Wicklow at our new Motorway Service Station on the M11 at Exit 14, Coyne’s Cross. This is a key part of our expansion plans in Ireland and it will be followed by additional openings at Birdhill, Swords & Lemybrien later in the year creating a total number of 360 new jobs in Ireland across 2014 and in 2015. In addition to our direct employees we are delighted to be able to create economic activity in the construction sector and with other Irish suppliers. The motorway network in Ireland has significantly improved in recent years, but there is still a shortage of service areas on key routes and we hope to help improve this.”
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD said: “A central part of our Action Plan for Jobs is putting in place measures to ensure that all of the country can benefit from the jobs growth that is happening, and it is encouraging that in 2013 every region saw jobs growth. In 2014 we are putting in place measures to support regional jobs growth such as the rollout of the Local Enterprise Offices in every county and a new county-based competition to find Ireland’s best young entrepreneur. Crucial in this regard however is consumer demand, and today’s announcement by Applegreen that it is creating 360 jobs as well as 250 construction jobs is a further signal of growing confidence. Above all, this is very welcome news for the 600 families who will benefit from these jobs, and I wish Applegreen every success with these projects”.
Those interested in applying for positions can view the range of openings and submit applications on http://applegreen.ie/jobs
