ACOUNTANCY FIRM DELOITTE is to hire up to 200 people with 30 positions available immediately for technology consultants and advisors

The jobs are spread across the company’s operations in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, and Deloitte says it intends to hire at least 150 graduates next year for its audit, tax, consulting and corporate finance divisions.

A small number of graduate positions are available for this year. Deloitte currently employs 1,100 people in Ireland.

A new plastic bottle recycling facility in Monaghan will create 35 jobs over the next three years. The €3.5m Shabra bottle sorting plant was opened by Minister Batt O’Keeffe today.

The company already employs 49 people, and its new expansion was funded by the Enterprise Ireland Growth Fund, according to the agency.

Today brought bad news for Cork, where management at the Schering-Plough pharmaceutical plant announced they would cut 160 jobs in the next three years.

Management at the west Cork plant in Brinny say they will try to make cuts through voluntary redundancy, where possible. The operation employs 500 people. Last year, Schering-Plough merged with Merck, a multinational drugs company, for an estimated $41bn (€32.2bn).

The lay-offs are understood to be part of the company’s merger plan.