Galway company Covidien has again been named by the European Commission as the EU's top investor in healthcare research and development.
Covidien is a global provider of healthcare products with its headquarters in Ireland.
It has five facilities across the country with 1,400 employees and has plants in Athlone, Tullamore and Galway as well as two in Dublin.
According to the Commission, the company is also Ireland's second biggest private sector investor in R&D across all industries and is ranked 61st overall among the top 1,000 companies in the EU.
The European Commission's latest "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" provides information on the top EU companies ranked by their global investments in reseach and development, irrespective of where the relevant R&D takes place.
Donal Balfe, Vice President of Manufacturing, Respiratory and Monitoring Solutions at Covidien, said that despite the difficult economic climate the company continues to see R&D investment as fundamental to its ongoing success.
