50 new jobs for Navan with opening of emergency call centre

A new call centre for the emergency services will be opened by BT Ireland in Navan at the end of this year, creating 50 jobs in the town. BT Ireland secured the contract to run the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS) and the company will locate one of its three call centres at the former Plaut Syntacom premises at the IDA Business Park at Johnstown. It is understood that BT Ireland intends to have the centre operational in December. The new Navan call centre will provide an emergency call answering service for the up to five million 999 and 112 emergency calls made by the public each year. The Navan-based operators will then connect the caller to the appropriate emergency service - Fire Service, Garda, Ambulance or Coastguard. On Monday, the Government announced that BT Ireland had won a five-year concession agreement to run the national emergency call answering service. The service will involve an investment of around €10 million and the operation of centres in Navan and Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. In addition, a third site at East Point Business Park, Dublin, will be deployed to increase the resilience of the service. Transport Minister and Meath TD Noel Dempsey this week claimed credit for locating the new facility in the county town. Welcoming the announcement, he said: 'This is a fantastic and very welcome jobs announcement for Navan. When I was the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, I personally saw to it that this new ECAS centre would be located in Navan. Today, we are now able to make that decision public. The up to 50 new high-quality jobs to be created here in Navan as a result of this decision is very welcome news in the current climate.' Mr Dempsey said he understood that the workforce in the Navan centre will come directly from the local population and that an emphasis will be placed on recruiting multilingual staff to deal with the many languages that are received in the call centre. He added that operators would first go through a rigorous training programme and then receive 'refresher training' every month. Meath County Council"s director of economic development, Kevin Stewart, also welcomed the announcement. 'The decision is another indication of the suitability of Navan for major employment opportunities. The economic development section was delighted that their hard work in promoting Meath, in general, and Navan, in particular, is paying off,' he said. Cllr Christy Reilly said: 'They are not just new jobs, but high-quality, sustainable jobs. It will be a great boost for the Navan area as the jobs will be sourced locally.' He added that he expected there would be other offshoots from the development. 'Other companies, both national and international, will see the benefits of using Navan for this type of centre because of its proximity to Dublin and the quality of the workforce in the area. This is a great boost at a time when everyone is worrying about the economy', added Cllr Reilly. Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said: 'The people of Ireland must be confident that, in an emergency situation, their communication is being handled quickly and effectively. I am confident that, using the latest advances in technology, the new provider will completely modernise the way this service operates and improve it beyond measure.' Changes which will occur with the switch-over to the new ECAS service will include automatic location identification, improved accuracy and speed and improvements to the service for members of the deaf community.